Aurobindo Pharma acquires dermatology business from Sandoz in a $900 million cash deal

Hyderabad based Aurobindo pharma on Thursday announced that it will acquire the dermatology and oral solid business from Sandoz Inc, a subsidiary of Swiss drug maker Novartis for an upfront purchase price of $900 million in cash, making it the second largest generic player in the US by number of prescriptions. The transaction will be an all cash transaction which Aurobindo will finance through a fully committed debt facility.

The acquisition will add approximately 300 products including projects in development as well as commercial and manufacturing capabilities in the US for Aurobindo. The portfolio that Sandoz is divesting generated sales to the tune of $600 million in HI 2018.

"The acquisition announced today is in line with our strategy to grow and diversify our business in the US. Acquiring these businesses from Sandoz will allow us to further expand our product offering and to become a leading player in the generic dermatology market", said N. Govindarajan, Managing Director of Aurobindo.

"As we have done in some of our previous acquisitions, we will be focused on leveraging our Group's market leading vertically integrated and highly efficient manufacturing base to enhance the market position and medium-term profitability of the businesses we are acquiring, " Govindarajan added.

This acquisition is expected to be accretive to normalized EPS from first full year of ownership. Some of the portfolio of products under the deal includes topical antibiotics, gynaecological and dermatological antifungal agents, anti-acne agents, local anaesthetic analgesics, anti-itch, and a dermatological chemotherapeutic agent. The transaction is expected to close in the course of 2019.