Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Jul 14, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Jul 14, 2005 |
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Corporate
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Mergers & Acquisitions Ocimum buys German co's genomic diagnostics division — To merge US, India operations Our Bureau
Hyderabad , July 13 OCIMUM Biosolutions, a life sciences company, has acquired the Genomic Diagnostics division of the German MWG Biotech AG. It also plans to merge its India and US operations. The company has bought the MWG Biotech's division, which specialises in DNA Microarrrays (biochip), for a consideration of euro 3.6 million, and is setting up an exclusive facility at Hyderabad to house the equipment, undertake research and offer services to clients. The Chief Executive Officer of Ocimum Biosolutions, Ms Anuradha Acharya, told Business Line that the Microarray facility would be ready in the next few weeks. The German company representatives are helping in installation and initial training. MWG Biotech AG had a sales turnover of euro 33 million at the end of 2004. It is on a restructuring process at its three global units in Germany, North Carolina (US) and Bangalore, according to a company report. In addition to providing catalogue arrays and customised ones for clients, Ocimum Bio will develop new biochips for specific purposes, in collaboration with Academia, she said. DNA Microarrays or biochips, are tools for basic research, which help understand genes and the multitude of factors that are responsible for diseases. Ocimum Bio, through the acquisition, would gain MWG's portfolio of biochips, which contain the complete genome of model organisms such as rat, mouse, zebra, fish and the human genome. Affymetrix Inc is a leading player globally with 50 per cent of the market. Agilent, Amersham, MWG are other significant companies offering these services. With this move, Ocimum Bio plans to globalise its operations and offer a 24-hour customer support, she said. "We have started effort to merge our Indianapolis, US office with the Indian operations based in Hyderabad. Gradually, we plan to make Hyderabad our global headquarters," Ms Acharya said. Ocimum Solutions has three main promoters — Ms Anuradha Acharya, her husband Mr Subhash Linga Reddy, and Ms Sujata Pammi. A major part of its seed funding has come from Ficus Enterprises, the world's largest producer of Sulpha-methoxazole and one of the top three producers of Ranitidine in India. As part of its expansion-cum-diversification, Ocimum Bio plans to recruit at least 20 more software professionals and more in the area of bio-informatics. It has already 90 professionals in Hyderabad, about 10 in the US and four in Germany handling various activities, she said.
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