Daiichi Sankyo says bid for Zenotech on hold

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's third-largest drugmaker, Daiichi Sankyo, said on Wednesday an Indian court has ordered it to suspend its planned open offer for shares in generic drug maker Zenotech Laboratories because of opposition by some stakeholders.

Daiichi Sankyo, which bought a 64 percent stake in India's largest generic drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories last year, said in January it aimed to buy 20 percent of Zenotech, in which Ranbaxy has a 47 percent stake, to comply with India's ownership requirement for indirect stakeholders.

Daiichi Sankyo had planned to launch the open offer on Wednesday with a deadline of August 3.

"We had expected our offer to go into effect by around this time, but it now looks likely to be some time before the offer starts. We will wait and see future developments," a Daiichi Sankyo spokesman said.

The spokesman declined to give details of the court order.

Zenotech's minority shareholders complained to the Madras High Court that Daiichi Sankyo's offer to pay 113.62 Indian rupees per share was too low and that they would seek 160 rupees per share, India's Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

Zenotech shares closed on Tuesday at 105.40 rupees. Daiichi Sankyo shares edged up 0.7 percent to 1,685 yen on Wednesday.