Astrazeneca in the red

Astrazeneca Pharma is down in the red at Rs.1077.80, a decline of over 8%, with volumes spiking up over two times.

Astrazeneca Pharma had been hitting new highs and breaching the upper circuit filters for some time now on the hopes of delisting. But like in 2010, these hopes were once again nixed when the company issued a statement saying, “The Board of Directors met on March 5, 2014 to consider the delisting proposal. After discussion, it was decided to seek additional information from the promoter - AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB, Sweden. Pending receipt of such additional information, consideration of the promoter's letter dated March 1, 2014 was deferred.”

The company had previously tried to delist the stock in 2010, and it had fixed a floor price of R576.10 and set a maximum acceptable price of R1,152 but shareholders did not vote in favour of the resolution through postal ballot.

One had lost hopes of this stock delisting after the promoters in March 2013 decided to trim the promoters stake from 89.99% to 75%, keeping in line with SEBI’s stipulation of bringing down promoters stake to 75%. And now once again, it made a decision to delist and it has again been deferred.