Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Pink Sheets: TAROF) has set a new date for its annual general shareholders meeting: December 31. The company postponed the previously scheduled meeting in September when the Tel Aviv District Court issued an injunction at the request of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (BSE: 524715).
Sun Pharmaceutical owns 35% of Taro, and is waging a struggle for control of the company against chairman Barrie Levitt. In the petition for an injunction, Sun Pharmaceutical said that Taro's shareholders lacked the information needed to make an informed decision about indemnification and that the external director candidates were reconsidering their nomination. Both items were on the agenda of the meeting.
The injunction banned Taro from holding a new shareholders meeting until 21 days from the date on which Taro would make available to Sun Pharmaceuticals certain minutes of board of directors meetings and related items described in the court's decision.
The shareholders meeting was also due to discuss the appointment of two directors, and the status of Taro's financial reports.
Taro has not published audited quarterly financial reports due to corrections made in previous years. The shareholders meeting was due to discuss the status of the financial reports for 2006-08. The company published revised reports for 2004 and 2005 six months ago.
Taro closed at $10.60 yesterday, giving a market cap of $367 million. The company was due to be sold to Sun Pharmaceutical, which had injected capital into it, but Levitt unilaterally cancelled the deal, resulting in legal proceedings.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 26, 2009
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