Hikma continues buying spree with stake in China's Hubei Haosun
This article was originally published in Scrip
Hikma Pharmaceuticals of Jordan continues to strengthen its Asian presence, this time through the acquisition of a 'significant' minority interest in the privately-owned Chinese actives maker, Hubei Haosun Pharmaceutical.
This is the second such transaction over the recent past after Hikma unveiled plans to acquire a 'minority' stake, of less than 25%, in the privately owned Indian active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and API intermediates firm, Unimark Remedies, earlier this year (scripintelligence.com, 15 April 2011).
Hikma said it would subscribe to new equity for a cash consideration of $5 million in Haosun, which develops and manufactures niche, difficult-to-make APIs and specialises in the oncology segment. Haosun has a US FDA and EU approved facility in China's Wuhan province and its current product portfolio and development pipeline "fits well" with Hikma's requirements, a company statement said.
Hikma expects to gain access to a "high quality, long term source" of APIs through the latest buy and said that the deal demonstrates the continuation of the company's strategy of enhancing its API sourcing and R&D capabilities in key product areas. The Unimark acquisition too was aimed at collaborating with the Indian firm to develop "strategic" APIs and ANDAs.
Last year, Hikma's CEO, Said Darwazah, had claimed that the company was in a position to make acquisitions worth up to $400 million (scripintelligence.com, 18 March 2010). In October 2010, Hikma acquired Baxter's US generic injectables business for $112 million, emerging as the second-largest injectables supplier in the US (scripintelligence.com, 29 October 2010).