JB Chemicals settles claims raised by Johnson & Johnson

NEW DELHI: JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals today said it has reached a settlement with Cilag GmbH International and Johnson & Johnson LLC entities regarding all claims raised by them in relation to sale of its over-the- counter business in Russia and CIS countries.


"Pursuant to this, an amount of Rs 64.50 crore would be released from escrow account to Cilag GmbH International and the balance amount of Rs 73.07 crore in the escrow account would be released to the company," JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals said in a filing to BSE.

Earlier in a filing on February 11, 2013 to BSE, JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals had said it had released Rs 25.24 crore to the company from the escrow account.

In October 2012, Johnson & Johnson group entities were understood to have claimed a sum of Rs 160 crore lying in an escrow account related to sale of over-the-counter business in Russia and CIS countries by JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals to Cilag GmbH International.

The account was set up in relation to the Rs 939 crore deal to sell its over-the-counter business in Russia and CIS countries to Johnson & Johnson arm Cilag GmbH International.

In July 2012, JBCPL had announced that it had received nearly Rs 738 crore and an agreed portion of consideration was kept in an escrow account.

The sale to Cilag GmbH International included the transfer of the worldwide rights and registrations of three OTC brands, Doktor Mom, Rinza and Fitovit.

The sale also included the transfer of the employees of the Russia/CIS OTC business.

As part of the deal, JBCPL's Russian unit had also sold its over-the-counter business to Johnson and Johnson LLC for USD 35 million.

Shares of JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals were today trading at Rs 79.15 apiece in afternoon trade on BSE, up 5.39 per cent from its previous close.