Merind officials confirmed the buyout of Lakme's holding at par and said this had already been taken into account at the time of the acquisition of Merind by Wockhardt.

The deal is part of an arrangement entered into between Merind and Lakme in 1995-96.

Of Tata Pharma's Rs 14.29 crore equity, 13,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each and 2,41,540 eight per cent cumulative redeemable non-convertible preference shares of Rs 100 each were allotted as fully paid up, for discharge of a portion of the purchase consideration payable to Lakme Ltd.Wockhardt had, in late February, bought out the Tatas' 50 per cent stake in Merind for a consideration of Rs 47 crore, and had subsequently made an open offer to all the remaining Merind shareholders atRs 260 per share.

The offer price represented a premium of over 40 per cent on the Merind stock price at that time.

Following the positive response to its open offer to Merind shareholders, Wockhardt's holding in the company has exceeded 90 per cent and is expected to facilitate the delisting of the Merind scrip, once the formalities are complied with.

Though the exact response to the offer in terms of figures could not be ascertained, sources indicated that over 80 per cent of the remaining 50 per cent shareholders in Merind had responded to the offer. This, it is learnt, includes the institutional holders like GIC and New India Assurance.

Financial institutions and FIIs together held 18 per cent of Merind's equity capital while the public holding was approximately 28per cent. The acquisition of Merind has catapulted Wockhardt to ninth position from its current 19th rank in terms of retail drugs offtake, taking it ahead of several leading multinational like Novartis, SmithKline andPfizer.

Accumed seeks nod for liquidation

The New Jersey-based Accumed Pharmaceuticals Inc, which was purchased by Wockhardt in January 1996, is understood to have sought permission for liquidation.

While industry sources indicated that the company may have already sought the RBI's clearance for this purpose, Wockhardt management officials did not respond to a faxed query on this issue from The Financial Express.

Accumed Pharmaceuticals Inc was purchased through 100 per cent stock ownership by Wockhardt Ltd and Wockhardt Europe Ltd for a consideration of around $18 million.