Mumbai, July 8: Wockhardt Ltd today acquired UK-based CP Pharmaceuticals Ltd for £ 10.85 million (approximately Rs 83 crore), catapulting the former amongst top 10 generic drug entities in the UK.
“This acquisition, the second for Wockhardt in the UK, will be funded through internal accruals and borrowings,” chairman Habil Khorikawala said.
CP Pharma, with a turnover of £ 34 million, has four key businesses consisting of a branded portfolio of hospital drugs, generics, contract manufacturing and exports.
It has 225 product licences providing the company with a significant growth potential, Khorikawala said. The UK entity has also spent over 7 million sterling pounds on acquiring brands in recent years, he added.
“With a combined business of over £ 50 million in the UK, Wockhardt now has a critical size to push into the larger European Union. We will leverage our company’s research and technology focus and cost effective manufacturing strengths to drive CP’s European business,” Khorakiwala said.
With this acquisition, the company’s turnover would cross the Rs 1,000-crore mark with 53 per cent of revenue coming from international markets, he added.
Mumbai-based Wockhardt had acquired Wallis Laboratory in 1998, he said, and claimed that the CP deal is the largest overseas acquisition by an Indian pharma entity.
Khorakiwala said CP and Wallis would be retained as separate entities as of now and the former could play an important role in launching some of Wockhardt’s products in the UK market in near future.
Some of CP’s products include natural insulins (Hypurin Bovine 100 per cent), Hypurin Porcine (34 per cent), unfractionated Heparins (40 per cent), Hyalase (100 per cent) and Magnapen (57 per cent), he said.
The company also has strategic relationships with leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and drug delivery technology entities for whom it undertakes contract manufacturing in injectables, freeze dried products, solid dose tablet formulations as well as liquids, creams and ointments.
CP’s chairman Charles Savage has been retained as a consultant for two years, he said.
