New Delhi - Indian drugmaker Zydus Cadila on Monday announced it will acquire 70 per cent stake in South Africa's Simayla Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed amount. It will be the second buy by Cadila, India's fourth-largest pharmaceutical company, in less than a fortnight.
"South Africa has been one of our key focus markets and Simayla's expertise and promising growth will unlock value for us as we look to consolidate and grow our business in this market rapidly," Cadila Chairman Pankaj Patel said in a statement.
The remaining 30 per cent stake will be held by the promoter of the Simayla Pharmaceutical, Ben Classen, who would continue to head the company's operations, Cadila informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in a filing.
The acquisition will be carried out through its wholly-owned subsidiary Zydus Healthcare SA Pty Ltd.
Simayla recorded revenues of 18.6 million South African rand(2.4 million dollars) in 2007 and is expected to touch 40.5 million rand in 2008.
Simayla sells generic drugs in the cardiovascular, anti-infectives, respiratory, central nervous system disorders, gastrointestinal and women's health segments.
The group plans to launch 50 drugs over the next three years in South Africa where the generic drug market is expected to touch 4.6 billion dollars by 2011.
The products will be manufactured at Cadila's manufacturing unit in India's western city of Ahmedabad. Besides South Africa, Simayla would market the products in Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique.
Earlier in 2003, the Cadila group acquired Alpharma France and acquired Japan-based Nippon Universal Pharmaceuticals and Brazil-based Quimica e Farmaceutica in 2007.
The Indian drug-maker on May 30 announced the acquisition of 100 per cent stake in Laboratorios Combix of Spain.
