Astrazeneca hits the roof

Astrazeneca Pharma has hit the 20% upper circuit at Rs.1110.90, a new high, the moment it opened the day for trading.

The stock has hit the roof after the company announced that its parent/promoter company, Astrazeneca Pharma Sweden, which holds 75% stake has approved delisting of its shares from Indian bourses. 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%. Thus after abandoning delisting plans it took everyone by surprise today by once again opening up the Pandora’s box of delisting.