Aurobindo Looks to Buy Portuguese Drug Co
Hyderabad-based pharma co may spend $200 m on
Generis, which has a presence across anti-infective, anti-diabetes &
dermatology drugs
Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma has
expressed preliminary interest in acquiring Portuguese drug maker Generis Farmaceutica
for about $200 million. Generis has a presence across anti-infective,
respiratory, anti-diabetes and dermatology drugs and sells to hospitals,
clinics and pharmacies besides having a contract manufacturing and analytical
services arm.
Aurobindo's latest bid comes on the heels of
an earlier shot at Israeli-drug maker Teva's UK product portfolio, where it was
outbid by rival Intas Pharmaceuticals last month. The family-owned Ahmedabad
company paid a whopping $764 million to bolster its European operations.
Aurobindo's move to buy the Portuguese firm
is seen as resurrection of an earlier interest after its Teva chase was
foiled.The Generis deal is on the table for the past few months, it fits
Aurobindo's valu ation range and its ambitions in Europe.“But final outcome is not very clear,” an industry executive
informed ET, adding some other drug makers are also in the contention. Generis
generated sales of around $60 million last year. Aurobindo and Generis did not
respond to questions from ET sent last week.
Aurobindo has been among Indian drug makers
keen on acquisition-led growth of its international operations. Its global
sales reached 13,896 crore in FY16, growing from 5,855 crore in FY13. In
Europe, Aurobindo's sales 3,130 crore last year, an 88% shot to ` CAGR from `
468 crore 2013.
The company wants to consolidate its presence
among the top ten players in markets it is present in Europe. The top European countries
for Aurobindo are France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK, Portugal Italy and
Romania.
At a recent investor presentation the company
said lower generics penetration in Italy, Spain and France offer future growth
as share of generics improve. It is also targeting extended presence in certain
East European markets.
Although generics are beginning to show green
shoots slowly in the European markets, a few within the Indian industry believe
it to be a difficult market due to its scattered healthcare systems, a slow
economic growth rate, near stagnating healthcare spends and limited scope to
increase prices due to tender-based procurements in key markets. Besides
securing manufacturing efficiencies remains a challenge.
Aurobindo has worked around those issues and
fared better compared to most of its Indian peers. Two years ago, Aurobindo acquired
the European business of the erstwhile Acatavis which incurred losses in the
early phase. It has started showing signs of a turnaround in the last few
quarters.
In recent times, Indian drug makers have
turned aggressive bidders for international assets. Last month, it was reported
that Sun and Lupin were among a handful of parties interested in buying the
dermatology assets of German giant Bayer for a deal that may be priced at over
$1 billion.
Comments
Post a Comment