With reference to the open offer made by Astra Pharma AB and AstraZeneca to acquire 12.79 per cent stake in AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd (the Company), the Company has announced that, a writ petition has been filed in the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore on or about November 27, 2002.

The petitioner has, in his petition, interalia, challenged the legal validity of certain provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations and has contested the validity of the Letter of Offer / Offer Document, the adequacy of the offer price and has questioned the veracity of disclosures in the offer document.

The petitioner had applied for an ad interim stay of further proceedings in pursuance of the Letter of Offer dated September 27, 2002 which was not granted. The Court ordered "any proceedings held by the respondents pursuant to Annexure B (Letter of Offer) is subject to the result of the writ petition. Parties to the list will not plead equities at the time of final hearing."