Daiichi to book a $3.8B loss on Ranbaxy buy

Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo plans to record a valuation loss and one-time write-down of goodwill on its investment in Indian generic firm  Ranbaxy Laboratories for the fiscal third-quarter ended December 31,  2008.

On a non-consolidated basis, Daiichi, which bought a majority stake in  Ranbaxy for $4.6 billion last year, plans to record a non-cash valuation  loss of 359.5 billion yen ($3.82 billion) on its shares in the Indian  generic giant to reflect a more than 50% decline in the market value of  these securities versus the purchase price.

On a consolidated basis, Daiichi estimates a non-cash loss of 354.0  billion yen related to the write-down of goodwill associated with its  investment. The Japanese firm sees no impact on its forecasts for  non-consolidated net sales, operating income or ordinary income for the  fiscal third-quarter as a result of these extraordinary losses.