Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma is acquiring domestic formulations business and some assets of Hyderabad-based Veritaz Healthcare, on a slump sale basis, for ₹171 crore.
The acquisition, coming into effect from April 1 and expected to close by May, will mark Aurobindo Pharma’s foray into the domestic formulations market. Aurobindo’s ability to build a product portfolio coupled with Veritaz’s distribution network will help create a significant footprint in the domestic pharma market over the next few years, Managing Director K. Nithyananda Reddy said.
Only branded generic business of Veritaz is being acquired. No shares or control of Veritaz are to be acquired. The addressable market of Veritaz’s product portfolio is about ₹26,775 crore and interesting space to grow business, Aurobindo Pharma said.
The acquisition, falling under the definition of related party transactions, will serve as a launch pad for marketing biosimilar and other products in India, Aurobindo Pharma said on Monday.
Veritaz markets about 40 brands across acute and critical care therapeutic segments and has about 180 trademarks registered in its name. The largest brands are Fepanil and Merogram group, which clocked a revenue of about ₹31 crore and ₹20 crore up to December 2021 respectively.
Currently, Veritaz caters to the anti-infective and pain-management therapeutic areas and has a pipeline of products to enter into the cardio/diabetic and ortho/gynaecology segments. It has an existing sales and distribution network with 900 field force, covering more than 50,000 retailers with nearly 1,700 stockists, and presence in 23 cities, reaching out to more than 70,000 doctors and empanelled with major hospitals.
Veritaz reported a ₹127-crore turnover in FY21 and up to December this fiscal, generated a revenue of ₹133 crore.
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