Indian pharmaceutical company Piramal Healthcare is looking to divest its 11% stake in Vodafone India, according to chairman Ajay Piramal.
Piramal, who reportedly made the comments on the sidelines of a conference, added that when his company first…
Indian pharmaceutical company Piramal Healthcare is looking to divest its 11% stake in Vodafone India, according to chairman Ajay Piramal.
Piramal, who reportedly made the comments on the sidelines of a conference, added that when his company first invested in the mobile phone operator, he had already planned to exit it within the next two to three years in order to make strong short-term returns.
The pharmaceutical group bought a 5.5% stake in Vodafone India from Indian conglomerate Essar Group in August 2011 for US$640m. In February last year, it doubled the stake to 11% for another US$613m.
The company said at the time that various exit mechanisms for Piramal were contemplated. These included participation in a potential IPO of Vodafone India, a sale of its stake to other companies or to parent company Vodafone, which controls the rest of Vodafone India.
Meanwhile, Vodafone India is still embroiled in a US$2.4bn tax dispute with Indian authorities over a 2007 transaction. But a non-executive chairman of the company, Analjit Singh, was recently quoted saying that Vodafone was hopeful of finding a solution.
In related news, Vodafone India’s director for external affairs, Manu Kapoor, has decided to leave the company for personal reasons, according to a statement.
In his position, Kapoor had reportedly been responsible for handling the tax disputes with the government. He will be replaced by Rohit Adya, who was in charge of the Western Region business.
