Cadila Healthcare Ltd, through its 100 per cent subsidiary Zydus Animal Health Ltd, is acquiring Germany’s Bremer Pharma GmbH from the private equity firm ICICI Venture. The PE arm of ICICI Bank, one of India’s largest lenders, has held its stake in Bremer through Finest Procuring Solutions Ltd.
ICICI Venture acquired Bremer Pharma in 2008 for its portfolio firm RFCL Ltd – a deal which has been a part of its inorganic growth strategy.
This acquisition will help Zydus AHL expand its animal health business and gain strategic access to key markets across Asia, Europe, South America and Africa. Incidentally, the global animal health market is valued at $20 billion.
Bremer Pharma has more than 500 registrations and an extensive network of distributors in more than 50 countries. The company is also into research, manufacturing and supplying veterinary medical preparations, including powders, tablets, solutions, suspensions and injectables. It has well-established research facilities and latest infrastructure for manufacturing powders, tablets, liquid and parenterals in Warburg-Scherfede, Germany. The plant is also compliant with EC-GMP and EHS norms.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, shares of Cadila Healthcare closed at Rs 892 per scrip, down 0.32 per cent from the previous close.
“Bremer’s high quality, generic veterinary pharmaceutical business and extensive presence in the global markets will help us leverage our strengths and add new dimensions to our growth in this business,” said Pankaj R. Patel, chairman and managing director of Cadila Healthcare.
Since 2009, ICICI Venture has been selling various units of RFCL, earlier known as Ranbaxy Fine Chemicals Ltd. It has acquired the firm for Rs 100-Rs 125 crore back in 2005.
The PE firm had sold RFCL’s animal health unit Vetnex to Pfizer Animal Health for $75 million (Rs 335 crore) in 2009. Last year, it had sold RFCL to US-based Avantor Performance Materials Holdings for a deal reportedly valued at Rs 500 crore (it seems Bremer may have been demerged before this deal).
