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Nicholas Piramal plans to shut Bombay unit

Drugmaker Nicholas Piramal India Ltd said on Wednesday it plans to close a manufacturing unit at a Bombay suburb as part of restructuring after a planned merger with Rhone-Poulenc India Ltd.

Nicholas Piramal chairman Ajay Piramal told reporters after a news conference to announce the dissolution of a joint venture with Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Reckitt Benckiser that Nicholas would shut the unit at Bhandup.

He said the 300 employees at the unit would be offered a separation scheme next month.

"We have reached an agreement with the workers," he said.

The unit was part of Rhone-Poulenc, a company with which Nicholas is in the process of merging. Shareholders of both companies have approved the merger, which now awaits court approval.

Piramal added Nicholas would receive Rs 845 million ($17.94 million) from the sale of the erstwhile Rhone-Poulenc headquarters in central Bombay, which it concluded recently.

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