The stepping down of Samina Hamied as Cipla's executive vice chairperson is part of a larger promoter plan and not part of any potential stake sale by them, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNBC-TV18.
Cipla had informed the exchanges on January 25 that Samina Hamied had decided to step down as Executive Vice Chairperson but will continue as a non-executive director, liable to retire by rotation. Additionally, it had approved the appointment of Balram Bhargava as an additional and independent director for five years until March 31, 2029.
Sources further added that the promoters would like Cipla to be handled by professionals and be modelled on conglomerates such as the Tata's.
"The move is part of the larger strategy laid out by the promoters towards a Cipla that is fully professionally managed. Ms. Hamied’s role as a part of the promoter family was to guide Cipla onto its future course and set in place a robust management team that could drive it in the long-term, which is reflected in the company’s strong performance over the recent years," said Cipla's official statement in response to CNBC-TV18's story.
Promoters of India's third-largest generic drug company by revenue currently own 33.47% stake in the company as of December 31, 2023.
CNBC-TV18 had reported last year that Torrent Pharma is likely to have entered the fray to acquire the Hamied family's stake in Cipla.
In an interaction with the CNBC-TV18 in November last year, Cipla's global CEO Umang Vohra had mentioned that they are not part of any transaction yet.
"The company doesn't comment on it, the promoters have not commented on it. We respond to what we do as a company through various statutory announcements, there have been none. As of two days back, we also opened the window for our employees. So I think people could infer, based on all of this, seems like it's business as usual," he had said back then.
For the December quarter, Cipla reported US business sales in excess of $200 million for the fourth quarter in a row. CEO Vohra said that $220 million to $225 million would be a normalised base for the US business.
He expects full-year margins for Cipla to be around 24% and while remediation process is on for its Indore facility, he has not heard back from the USFDA yet.
The drugmaker's shares ended 3% lower on Thursday and have risen 17% over the last six months.
(Edited by : Hormaz Fatakia)
First Published: Jan 27, 2024 1:10 PM IST
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