Bangalore-based biotechnology company Biocon has acquired Axicorp, a drug marketing and distribution firm in Germany, for €20 million ($43.7 million).
Indian firm acquires 70% stake in German marketing and distribution firm
MUMBAI: Bangalore-based biotechnology company Biocon has acquired Axicorp, a drug marketing and distribution firm in Germany, for €20 million ($43.7 million).
The acquisition will give Biocon a “front-end” to market is drugs in the European market, according to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director.
Biocon has picked up a 70% stake in Axicorp.
The acquisition will enable the marketing and distribution of a range of products, including generics and biosimilars.
“We will first start selling our products in Germany. Later, we will expand to other European countries through Axicorp,” Shaw told DNA Money.
She also said that the company was targeting Germany as it is Europe’s largest pharmaceutical market.
“We were looking at specialised marketing and distribution companies without manufacturing assets. We did not want to repeat the mistake made by other Indian companies. We stayed away from marketing firms in the generic space,” Shaw said. The acquired company also sells its own brands, whose manufacturing is outsourced.
According to Shaw, Axicorp is not a typical marketing company that has to deal with reps and doctors.
“Instead, this company has adopted direct-to-pharmacy model cutting across middlemen,” Shaw said.
Allegro Capital was the financial advisors to Biocon for the transaction.
The company has been planning an overseas expansion after it sold of its enzymes business to Denmark-based Novozymes for $115 million (about Rs 470 crore).
“We are still looking for more acquisitions abroad,” Shaw said. The company has started consolidating its business since a year. It is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of its contract research and manufacturing services company Syngene.
b_tinesh@dnaindia.net
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