Indian Biotechnology major "Biocon Ltd" announced on Monday it has reached agreement to acquire 70 per cent stake in German pharmaceutical company, "AxiCorp" GmbH for
30 million euros.
This will enable the marketing and distribution of a range of pharmaceuticals including generics, biosimilars, biologics and innovative pharmaceutical products in Germany and Europe.
Allegro Capital was the financial advisors to Biocon on this transaction. AxiCorp is a specialized marketing and distribution company established in 2002 by a group of industry experts to address the lucrative generics and parallel distribution market in Germany and Europe. AxiCorp is ISO 9001 certified with a differentiated distribution model that is aligned to the radically altered way the German pharmaceutical market now functions.
“AxiCorp is a key strategic investment for Biocon as it heralds our European foray for biosimilars like Recombinant Human Insulin. Biocon is investing in AxiCorp’s very impressive entrepreneurial team and its highly differentiated business model, which will help us build strong marketing and distribution capabilities in Europe. Both companies share a common vision of affordable healthcare which we can deliver through a combination of Biocon’s low cost manufacturing and AxiCorp’s low cost distribution. We are delighted to welcome AxiCorp to the Biocon group of companies as an autonomous subsidiary. We look forward to the continued leadership role played by Holger Gehlhar and Dirk Ullrich in steering AxiCorp to new levels of growth”, said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon
“The entry of Biocon adds significantly to our competence.” says Holger Gehlhar, Co-founder of AxiCorp. “With EMEA opening the doors to biosimilars, we believe Biocon will add a new dimension to our current product offerings through biosimilars and innovative drugs. Biocon’s manufacturing and drug development capabilities will also enable us to effectively compete for increased market share.”
“The clinical development costs involved in commercializing bio-similars and biologics limit small and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies in Europe to participate in this emerging segment”, explains Dirk Ullrich, who has managed the diabetology business of Sanofi-Aventis before he became General Manager of AxiCorp in 2007. “Biocon will now make it possible for AxiCorp to assert its position in this important therapeutic segment. We are confident that we can take Biocon’s expanding drug pipeline rapidly and efficiently to the market in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
“With the strategic investment in AxiCorp, Biocon establishes its first presence in Europe in order to market its injectible insulin on its own, and also to build up marketing and distribution capabilities for many other products of its portfolio. |
