Sun gets boost as Taro shareholders reject Board’s re-election

Sun Pharma is the single largest shareholder in Taro with 36 per cent stake and it has been trying to take control of the company ever since their $454-million merger deal of 2007 was unilaterally terminated by the Israeli firm a year later.

“Shareholders voted decisively against the election of Taro’s external director nominees,” Sun Pharma said.

Taro shareholders holding over two-thirds of its equity want to remove the Levitts (promoter family) and their associates from the board,it said.

Commenting on the development,Sun Pharma Chairman and Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi said: “With such an unambiguous rejection by minority shareholders,the Levitts and Taro directors now have lost this only crutch.”

It is time Levitts,who own a mere 12 per cent of Taro’s equity,hear the voice of the minority shareholders and stop relying on their special founder shares to decide who will manage Taro,he added.

Reacting to the shareholders decision,Templeton Asset Management Executive Chairman Mark Mobius told TV channel CNBC TV18: “We expect Sun management,which is most capable to take over the management of the company (Taro).”