Sanofi to sell oldest India plant to Zentiva for ₹261 crore

Multinational drugmaker Sanofi has received approval from its board of directors to sell its oldest manufacturing facility in India at Ankleshwar (Gujarat) to Zentiva Pvt Lte for ₹261 crore.

The transaction will include the 600-odd employees at the site who will move to Zentiva “on terms that are not less favourable than their current terms”, a company spokesperson told BusinessLine of the deal expected to be completed by March 31, 2020. The facility made branded drugs including Combiflam®, Allegra® and Amaryl®. Their production will now shift to Sanofi’s Goa site and external manufacturing sites, the company said.

The sale of the Gujarat facility is in line with the global transaction last year when France’s Sanofi sold its European generics business Zentiva to private equity firm Advent international in a $2.4-billion deal. The international transaction was completed in October last year.

Sanofi had bought Prague-headquartered Zentiva in 2008 in a $2.6-billion deal and the divestment last year was “to simplify and reshape the company,” the multinational had then said.

On the India development, Sanofi India-head Rajaram Narayanan said in a statement, “Sanofi’s long-term strategy is to focus on manufacturing Sanofi branded products.”

Established in 1987, the Ankleshwar site has a chemistry & biotechnology development centre, and manufactures both intermediates and pharmaceutical formulations. A large producer of tablets, Sanofi’s Ankleshwar site manufactures more than 6 billion tablets annually, it said.

The transaction is subject to shareholder approval and the completion of certain conditions under the Business Transfer Agreement, Sanofi said.

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