India's Cipla to Buy Two U.S. Firms for $550 Million
September 04 2015 - 8:20AM
Dow Jones News
MUMBAI—Indian generic drugs major Cipla Ltd. Friday said it has
agreed to buy two U.S. generic drug makers for $550 million in cash
to scale up its drug offerings to American patients.
The two firms InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Exelan
Pharmaceuticals Inc., will give the Indian firm scale in the U.S.
generics market through cardiovascular, anti-infectives and
diabetes drugs as well as other value-added generics, Cipla
said.
InvaGen offers a large-capacity manufacturing base in Hauppauge,
New York and research and development facilities as well as access
to large wholesalers and retailers in the U.S., Cipla said. The
acquisition of Exelan Pharmaceuticals provides Cipla with access to
the government clients and the institutional market in the U.S.
The two U.S. firms in total earned revenue of $225 million in
the last 12 months through June, Cipla said.
Indian generic drug makers have been on the prowl for
acquisitions globally as foreign multinational drug firms have been
fast acquiring generic-drug rivals in the country. Access to
generic-drug making facilities offers firms the ability to make and
market cheap off-patent drugs on a mass scale.
Cipla is up 2.8% at 675.05 rupees in morning trade even as the
benchmark S&P BSE Sensex is down 0.9%
Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 04, 2015 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT)
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