Drug major Ranbaxy Laboratories today said it is setting up two new manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and Malaysia, as part of efforts to boost its overall business.
"It's the company's strategy. We will be consolidating our position in the emerging markets and we have selected certain key emerging markets..," Ranbaxy CEO and Managing Director Arun Sawhney said in a conference call with investors.
However, Sawhney did not disclose financial details about the plants.
Malaysia, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco are among the strategic markets identified by the pharma major.
"We can't just keep on growing manufacturing activities only in India. So there are certain strategic locations where we will have to take a decision," Sawhney said.
Ranbaxy is setting up plants in Nigeria and Malaysia, he said.
"We are setting up a greenfield manufacturing facility in Nigeria to supplement our manufacturing capability and consolidate our position as a leader," according to the company's 2011 annual report, released recently.
The Nigeria facility is expected to be ready by December this year and production is likely to start from first quarter of 2013. This would be Ranbaxy's second plant in the African nation.
To cater to increased demand and export to other countries like Singapore and Thailand, Ranbaxy is establishing a greenfield manufacturing facility in Malaysia,
The project is expected to be complete in 2014. The capacity of new plant would be about 2.5 billion doses per annum.
On the plant in Nigeria, Ranbaxy said the new project would be for upgrading liquid manufacturing capacity to produce around 14 million units per annum as well as to have capacity for manufacturing up to 100 million units of tablets and capsules per annum.
"These are the important markets of continent of Africa and emerging markets is our story. It is important for us to be present there in some respectable measure. That's what is the reason for setting up operations there," Sawhney said during the call.
