The Hindu Business Line : Sun Pharma buys Valeant's Ohio facility

AFTER having acquired Valeant Pharma's manufacturing unit in Hungary last month, the Mumbai-based drug major Sun Pharma has signed an agreement to buy the company's manufacturing facility at Ohio as well. The cost of acquisition has not been disclosed in both cases.

The company has been scouting around for an acquisition in the US and a company official said that the search is still on, unaltered by the recent acquisition of Valeant's plant. Sun Pharma was waiting for the right valuation, the official said. The company had issued a $350-million FCCB late last year, primarily to support a major acquisition in the US.

Sun Pharma's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Dilip Shanghvi, said in a statement that the recent Valeant acquisition would help accelerate filings for the US generic market. It would also address opportunities in liquids and semi-solids like creams and ointments, he said, where Sun Pharma has products under development.

Meanwhile, Mr Timothy C. Tyson, Valeant's President and Chief Executive Officer, said: "The execution of our manufacturing improvement plan continues to move forward aggressively. We expect to complete more facility divestments in the near future and remain confident in our ability to reduce the network to four manufacturing sites by the end of 2006." Valeant expects to rationalise its 15 manufacturing facilities down to four by 2006.

Other facilities: Sun Pharma's overseas subsidiary, the Detroit-based Caraco Pharma Labs also has a manufacturing facility. Caraco's facility manufactures a variety of tablets, the official said, besides handling marketing of the medicines, Sun's representative said. Currently, Sun Pharma holds about 69 per cent equity in Caraco.

Last month, Sun Pharma had acquired Valeant's raw materials and dosage-form manufacturing operations in Hungary, marking Sun's foray into Europe. Sun Pharma's last major overseas acquisition was in 1997, when the company had acquired about 30 per cent equity in Caraco, a generic company that manufactures and markets generic drugs and private label prescription drugs.

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