Dr Reddy’s says its proposed acquisition of Dutch firm OctoPlus is moving closer to completion.

At the end of last month, it was revealed that the Indian drugmaker was planning to offer 0.52 euros per share for OctoPlus, valuing the Leiden-headquartered drug formulation firm at around 27.4 million euros. That bid represented a 30% premium over the closing price of OctoPlus on October 19.

The firms have now laid out preparations for the offer, including securing approval from regulatory authorities in the Netherlands. The process is likely to be concluded in the first quarter of 2013 and a meeting of shareholders of OctoPlus will be held in January. The firm's board have backed the deal.

Dr Reddy’s said it "has been following the activities of OctoPlus over a longer period with great interest and got convinced the company has acquired competence in drug formulation and difficult-to-formulate injectables". The Hyderabad-based group added that "OctoPlus' expertise in injectable specialty generics like liposomes and microspheres is interesting and its ability to improve the formulations of both existing and new drugs is believed to be complementary" to Dr Reddy’s own capabilities.