Slovenian drug maker Krka to buy back up to 8.3 pct of own shares

Krka dd Novo Mesto

28/07/2017 09:56

LJUBLJANA, July 28 (Reuters) - Slovenian generic drugs maker 
Krka  KRKG.LJ  plans to buy back up to 2.7 million of its own 
shares, 8.3 percent of the total, over the next three years, the 
company said on Friday. 
    Shareholders gave approval earlier this month for the 
company to spend up to 227.8 million euros ($266.53 million) on 
the share purchases, it said in a statement. 
    At present, Krka holds 1.7 percent of its own shares. 
    Krka, Slovenia's largest listed company with a market 
capitalisation of 1.8 billion euros, had said it may use the 
acquired shares as a currency for possible takeovers or sell 
them to a possible strategic partner. 
    The company, whose profit surged by 31 percent to 91.7 
million euros in the first half, said earlier in July that it 
was in talks to buy a small Chinese pharmaceutical company whose 
name it did not reveal.  ID:nL8N1JX3JX  
($1 = 0.8547 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Adrian Croft) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com, +386-1-5058805, Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: KRKA STOCKS/