Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, May 27, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate
-
Interview Strides Acrolabs to raise $100 m for acquisitions
Mr Arun Kumar The Chairman of the Strides Acrolabs, Mr Arun Kumar, says the company plans to raise $100 million for future acquisitions. It hopes to complete the fund raising by the first quarter of FY07. He said the fund raising would lead to a 15-20 per cent equity dilution. Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Mr Arun Kumar. Strides' on an acquisition spree; $100 million is what you hope to raise. How soon are you planning to be able to raise this and what kind of acquisitions will you be targeting? We have recently taken a resolution to raise $100 million to get ready for some acquisition target to continue our growth rate. The Polish acquisition, which was recently completed, has already being paid for. So, new fund raising is not necessarily for the Polish acquisition. We hope to have the fund-raising completed by somewhere around the next quarter. What would be your new target because there is a bit of buzz suggesting that Latin America is another country where you are looking at expansions and acquisitions? Right, we are already the largest Indian pharmaceutical company in Latin America. We are the only Indian pharmaceutical operation with manufacturing plants, both in Mexico and Brazil. We have a significant business in Latin America; it's amongst the fastest growing company in that region. So we will continue to look at both organic and inorganic growth opportunities, even in the Latin American space. The fund raising is basically to enable us to achieve all inorganic opportunities that are coming our way. What kind of equity dilution will you be looking at? This will possibly dilute the company between 15-20 per cent depending upon how the markets behave when we are in the process of fund raising. How many product filings are in the Strides pipeline for Abbreviated New Drug Application or ANDA filings. What is your target for the year? We have 30 product filings targeted for 2006. We have already completed seven filings with the authorities. So we are on track to get to these numbers. How many acquisitions are you planning for this particular financial year? You have raised $100 million but essentially how many acquisitions would that fund? We haven't yet raised the cash; we have just taken an enabling resolution. It would depend on the need base. We would then raise the capital that is required to make our acquisitions according to the overall strategy.
More Stories on : Interview | Pharmaceuticals
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2006, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|