New Delhi (Sputnik): India's biggest drug maker, Sun Pharmaceuticals is set to enter the Russian and CIS market. The company has signed an agreement with Russia’s Biosintez for acquiring its majority stake for about $ 60 million. The transaction, expected to be completed by the year-end, is subject to approval by the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and other contract conditions.
"This transaction gives us access to local manufacturing capability across multiple dosage forms in Russia, enabling us to serve its pharmaceutical market more effectively," Aalok Shanghvi, head of Emerging Markets of Sun Pharma, said in a statement.
The Russian pharmaceutical market is pegged at about $10 billion, growing at 7.4 percent in local currency terms. Indian companies have been knocking at the doors for several years.
Sun Pharma’s strategy over the past two decades is to grow with acquisitions. This approach has made it the world’s fifth-largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company. It made its first overseas acquisition by acquiring the US-based Caraco Pharma in 1997 and has since then been on the lookout for takeovers mainly in the US and Australia.
Sun Pharma’s net profit surged 117.25 percent in the second quarter of the current financial year compared to the same period last year.
