Ranbaxy buys third firm in four days

By agencies   |   Friday, 31 March 2006, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India’s biggest pharma company Ranbaxy today announced its third overseas acquisition this week, this time it is Belgium based generics company, Ethimed NV. However Ranbaxy did not disclose the financial details of its latest acquisition. Ethimed is an established generics company in Belgium with a significant customer network. It has over 20 product registrations and is ranked No. 10 among generics companies in Belgium. Earlier this week, Ranbaxy had announced its acquisition of Terapia in Romania and the unbranded generics business of British pharma major GlaxoSmithKline in Italy. Terapia, the leading independent generics company in Romania, was acquired for $324 million, Ranbaxy’s largest overseas acquisition so far. A company statement on the latest acquisition said Ranbaxy intended to manage its operations in the Benelux territories out of Ethimed in Belgium. The acquisition follows similar strategic moves by Ranbaxy, previously in the larger European markets, and will allow Ranbaxy to anticipate local market dynamics and capitalize on the changing business landscape in the Benelux countries, it said. Ranbaxy funded the latest acquisition out of its recently raised $440 million foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB) issue. Belgium is the seventh-largest pharmaceuticals market in Europe and along with the Netherlands (the sixth-largest market) and Luxembourg has a combined market size to the tune of $7.6 billion, according to the MAT December ‘05 figures. The Belgian market is largely a branded, high-priced market, with increasing generic penetration. The acquisition puts Ranbaxy in a position to capture a significant part of this expanding market.