India’s Zydus Cadila has hit the overseas acquisition trail again and is buying a Brazilian drugmaker for $26 million.
The company in question is Quimica e Farmaceutica Nikkho do Brasil, which is described as a mid-sized, privately-held company and it had sales equivalent to the purchase price last year. This is the company’s second foreign purchase this year as Zydus acquired Nippon Universal Pharmaceutical, its joint venture partner in Japan, for an undisclosed amount in April.
Explaining this latest acquisition, Zydus chairman Pankaj Patel said that Nikkho’s “well entrenched presence” will help his firm launch branded speciality products “aggressively across Brazil and enable it to step up the registration process of several molecules”.
The initiative will also boost Zydus’ existing generic business in Brazil by providing “enhanced reach and distribution” and Rio de Janeiro-based Nikkho’s manufacturing facility will prove to very useful as the Indian drugmaker looks to make an impact in the expanding Latin American market.
Nikkho markets 22 products under 13 different brands, covering a number of therapeutic areas, including gynaecology, neurology, gastroenteritis, respiratory diseases and dermatology, and it has nearly 50 registered brands that are yet to be launched. Mr Patel concluded by saying that with the deal, “we now see ourselves adding value to our global expansion strategy by successfully penetrating the branded generics market in Brazil”.
