Swiss drug manufacturer Novartis AG made an open offer to purchase an additional equity stake of 39% in its Indian arm Novartis India Ltd. for a total value of up to Rs 440 crore.

The parent company would buy back the shares from public shareholders at INR351 a share.

After the successful completion of this offer, Novartis will hold 90% stake in the Indian arm from the current 50.9%.

Novartis AG made the offer at a premium of 27% to Novartis India’s closing price of Rs 275.6 on March 24.

The offer for these shares is likely to open in May 2009, and is subject to regulatory approvals.

At 1:35 p.m., shares of Novartis India surged 20% to trade at Rs 330.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The total volume of shares traded was 13,844 at the BSE. Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 32.73 and 10.10 respectively.