Biocon Board Approves Plan To Raise Up To Rs 4,500 Crore

Biocon Ltd. on Wednesday announced that its board has approved raising funds totalling up to Rs 4,500 crore through the issuance of securities, and has also given the approval to increase the company's authorised share capital.

According to the company's exchange filing, the board has approved the raising of funds by way of issuance of any instrument or security, including equity shares, non-convertible debt instruments along with warrants, any other convertible securities or any other eligible securities.

This may be done by way of qualified institutions placement, rights issue, preferential allotment or private placement "and/or any combination thereof", it said.

The company can raise the funds in "one or more tranches and/or one or more issuances," the filing added.

However, the board clarified that the fund raise is "subject to the receipt of necessary approvals" including of the company's shareholders and other regulatory or statutory approvals, as may be required.

At the same meeting, the board also approved the increasing of the company's authorised share capital from Rs 625 crore to Rs 700 crore.

This would be done by increasing the number of equity shares from 125 crore of Rs 5 each to 140 crore equity shares of Rs 5 each.

Shares of Biocon Ltd. closed 0.57% higher at Rs 335.85 apiece on the BSE, compared to a 0.65% advance in the benchmark Sensex. The company's filing regarding the fundraise came after the stock markets had closed on Wednesday.