Malvinder Singh stepped down as chairman and CEO of Ranbaxy Laboratories on Sunday, ending his family’s 48-year-old association with thecountry’s largest drug maker and paving the way for Daiichi Sankyo to take complete control of the company it acquired last year. A senior Daiichi Sankyo executive, Tsutomu Une, was appointed Ranbaxy chairman, and company’s COO Atul Sobti was named and MD for a three-year term. In another crucial development, Mr Singh and his two other nominees, Religare CEO Sunil Godhwani and Balinder Singh Dhillon, also quit the board. The seven-member board is now dominated by Daiichi Sankyo nominees. This is the second board reconstitution in the past six months. Both Mr Singh and Daiichi Sankyo officials insisted that the former’s decision to quit was amicable and mutual. But the conspicuous absence of Mr Singh at the press conference following the company’s board meeting on Sunday and the fact that his resignation comes into effect with immediate effect have given rise to speculation about his departure being less than completely amicable.
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