'Daiichi's allegations false, baseless'

MUMBAI: It may soon become a no-holds-barred spat between the Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo, which acquired Ranbaxy, and its former promoters. Reacting to Daiichi's statement, which referred to the involvement of former shareholders, the Singh family, ex-promoters of Ranbaxy said the Japanese company's allegations are false and baseless, and the acquisition was done after a full due diligence.
Daiichi had said in a communication posted on its website on May 22 "certain former shareholders of Ranbaxy concealed and misrepresented critical information concerning the US Department of Justice and FDA investigations" . Former Ranbaxy chairman and CEO, Malvinder Singh, told TOI, "The negotiations between us carried on for nine months. Nothing was hidden from them." He added that the family had not received a legal notice yet from Daiichi.
The Singh family said on Thursday that Daiichi's statement on "certain former shareholders" is an obvious reference to the members and companies of the Singh family, who were shareholders of Ranbaxy.
The family said that Daiichi Sankyo purchased the company in 2008 after a long negotiation process, and after conducting a full due diligence . The negotiations on behalf of Daiichi Sankyo were led by Takashi Shoda, Daiichi Sankyo's representative director and chairman , and Tsutomu Une, executive director, who is also the Ranbaxy chairman.
The statement adds: "The belated suggestion, made years after the fact, that information was concealed from and/or misrepresented to Daichii Sankyo is false and designed to divert attention away from Daiichi Sankyo's own failures to protect itself."
At every step of the negotiations between the two sides at the time of the deal, Daiichi Sankyo was made aware of the on-going USFDA and DoJ investigations. They were also given full access to the documents at Ranbaxy pertaining to these investigations, it says.
Regarding the $500-million settlement which the company made in relation to the investigations by US regulatory agencies, the Singh family said the decision to enter into it was made by Ranbaxy, and had nothing to do with them, with no consultations being held on it.
The former promoters of Ranbaxy said that the Japanese company was trying to shift the blame. "It is unfortunate that having made that decision, Ranbaxy's largest shareholder, Daiichi Sankyo, is now trying to desperately shift the blame as regards Ranbaxy's current situation away from itself ", the statement says.