Biocon sells 9.96% stake in contract research firm Syngene via open market

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian biopharma company Biocon sold a 9.96% stake in its unit and contract research firm Syngene International through open market sale, it said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

With the sale, the total promoter stake of Biocon in Syngene stands at 54.6%, the exchange filing showed.

Biocon did not reveal the price at which the stake was sold.

Officials at Syngene and Biocon did not immediately respond to a Reuters query seeking the reason for the stake sale and the price at which the sale was executed.

Biocon was selling the stake in Syngene to fund the acquisition of Viatris Inc's biosimilars business that it announced last year, CNBC TV-18 reported on Tuesday.

The selling price would be in the range of 560 rupees and 562.30 rupees per share, the report said.

Biocon Biologics had in February 2022 said it would buy the U.S. drug maker's biosimilars business in a deal valued at $3.34 billion.

Bengaluru-based Biocon had in September 2022 sold a 5.4% stake in the open market, as per an exchange filing.

Biocon's shares closed up 2%, while those of Syngene added 0.74% on Wednesday.

 

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)