The Hindu Business Line : Lupin to close down S. African subsidiary

The subsidiary, Lupin Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd, is essentially a marketing outfit. It was started seven years ago as a joint venture (JV) with local partner Quottromed, sources said.

"There is no business taking place out of the SA subsidiary for about two years now. It is a shell company and Lupin would look to liquidate the company. The process of shutting-shop is likely to be completed this year," a source close to the company said.

According to industry sources, Lupin's decision to shut shop in S.A. came after its joint venture partner faced financial problems. More details were not available.

"The subsidiary had a few employees from Lupin and the rest were to be provided by the partner company. The Lupin employees have returned to the parent company about two years ago and the subsidiary at present has no employees," the source said.

Lupin has subsidiary companies in Thailand, Hong Kong and the US with the latter seeing heightened activity recently.

However, the company's decision to shut shop in S.A. comes at a time when Indian companies are getting increasingly active in global markets. More so, tuberculosis is an opportunistic disease that affects HIV/AIDS patients and SA has a large number of people affected with the disease. Besides, the African region accounts for the highest HIV/AIDS incidence in the world, analysts said. So, doesn't it make sense for one of the largest TB drug makers in the world to have a presence in the region?

"Not necessarily. Most of the sale of TB drugs happens through institutional sales. For instance, the World Health Organisation programmes directly procure or facilitate the procurement from companies and this kind or servicing can be done out of India too," the source said.

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