Shares of Ipca Laboratories fell 9% in intraday trade on Tuesday, touching a 52-week low of Rs 751 on the BSE, after the company’s board approved the acquisition of a 33.38% stake in Unichem Laboratories for Rs 1,034 crore from one of its promoter shareholders.

Shares of the pharmaceutical company have fallen below the previous low of Rs 768 hit on March 16, 2023. Meanwhile, shares of Unichem Labs rose 2% to Rs 396 in intraday trade on the BSE. In contrast, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.11% at 59,990 at 9:29 am.

Ipca Labs said it has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire 23.5 million paid-up equity shares for Rs 2 each, representing 33.38% of the paid-up equity share capital of Unichem Laboratories from one of its promoter shareholders at Rs 440 per equity share, totalling to Rs 1,034.06 crore.

Ipca has also opened an offer to public shareholders of Unichem for up to 26% of the fully diluted issued share capital at Rs 440 per share. lpca and Unichem’s business and product ranges complement each other.

lpca is vertically integrated, producing finished dosage forms and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). LPCA is the 17th largest company in the Indian pharmaceutical market, with leading brands in pain, rheumatology, antimalarials and hair care therapies, with 5 brands among the top 300 brands (IQVIA February 2023).

Unichem is an international, integrated speciality pharmaceutical company. It manufactures and distributes a broad range of pharmaceutical formulations as branded generics and generics in several countries worldwide, with the major markets being the United States and Europe.