With this acquisition, we have stepped up our sales and are on a fast track to achieving our corporate strategy of the $ 1 billion turnover by 2009.
Continuing its Merger and Acquisition (M&A) spree in the European market, the Indian drug major Wockhardt recently acquired Negma Laboratories, the fourth largest independent and research-based pharmaceutical group in France, in a deal worth $265 mn. The all-cash deal marks the Indian firm's fifth acquisition in Europe after it acquired Wallis, CP Pharmaceuticals (both UK-based), Germany's Esparma, and Ireland's Pinewood Laboratories.
The deal, which is also the third largest in the history of Indian pharmaceutical industry, makes Wockhardt the largest Indian company in Europe, and also gives it an entry into France's generics market worth $2 bn that is growing at a healthy rate of 24% per annum, as well as a pan-European presence, spanning across the key markets of Europe, namely, Germany, the UK, Ireland and now France. "We have a track record of successful value creation post acquisition. We expect to demonstrate the same momentum with Negma", said an ecstatic Habil Khorakiwala, Wockhardt's Chairman.
The Paris-based Negma, which holds 172 patents and sells three patented drugs in France, amassed a $150 mn turnover during the last year. The value of the current acquisition is worth 77% more than the French company's last year's sales or 9.7 times its Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA). Given that, while the price looks a little staggering, Wockhardt expects the synergies from the deal to exceed it. |
