Jubilant buys US firm for $12.25mn

Jubilant Organosys today announced the acquisition of US-based Trinity Laboratories Inc (Trinity) along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Trigen Laboratories Inc (Trigen) for $12.25 million. This was announced in a release issued by Jubilant to the BSE today.

According to the agreement signed today, Jubilant will hold 64% equity stake in Trinity/Trigen. "Out of the total consideration of $12.25 million, $8.25 million will be paid to existing shareholders and the balance retained for growth. The company will invest an additional $8.42 million by December 2006, which will increase the company's equity interest in Trigen to 75%. An additional $ 4.05 million may be payable by the company on conversion of existing share options to maintain its shareholding in Trigen. Overall, the company will invest up to $ 24.72 million," the release added.

Trigen is in the business of generic dosage forms, and has a USFDA approved, cGMP-compliant manufacturing facility in Maryland, USA. Spread over an area of around 60,000 sq ft, the manufacturing facility currently has an annual production capacity of 650 million tablets and 35 million capsules, which will be enhanced to one billion tablets per annum, the release said.

The product portfolio of Trigen focuses on the therapeutic areas of CNS and CVS, including anti-hypertensive, diuretic, and andrenocortical steroid. It has six approved ANDAs, and two ANDAs filed and awaiting US FDA approval, the release said.

Shyam S Bhartia, CMD and Hari S Bhartia, co-chairman & MD of Jubilant, said: "The acquisition furthers our objective of strengthening our position in the global pharma & life sciences industry, and facilitates Jubilant's entry into the high opportunity US market. With Jubilant's API manufacturing capabilities and R&D expertise being complemented by Trigen's USFDA approved dosage forms manufacturing facilities & knowledge of the US market, we are now well positioned to enhance our standing in the higher end of the life sciences value chain."