NPIL buys Rhodia business for £7m

17 January 2005 00:01  [Source: ACN]

NICHOLAS Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has acquired Rhodia’s inhalation anaesthetics business for £7m (US$13m), an NPIL source told ACN.

The source said the payment would consist of an upfront sum of £5.2m and realisable stocks worth £1.8m, ‘to maintain the continuity of business’. Rhodia, he added, was selling the business as part of the restructuring of its perfumery, performance, and agrochemicals division.

He said the acquisition would give NPIL complete access to Rhodia’s manufacturing technology and facilities related to the inhalation anaesthetics halothane and isoflurane, although it would not acquire the manufacturing plant or land. NPIL, he added, was happy to gain access to Rhodia’s highly complex continuous catalytic conversion process for the production of the two products.

NPIL would also gain access to Rhodia’s global sales and marketing network of exclusive distributors in more than 90 countries, including the US, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

The source said NPIL already had a 25% share of the global market for halothane; the acquisition would give it another 48% share and make it the market leader, plus a 15% share of the global isoflurane market. Abbott is the global market leader for isoflurane with a 41% share.

The source said the company would relocate the production of the two products to Ennore near Chennai, India, from Rhodia’s plant in Avonmouth, Bristol, UK. Until the relocation was completed, Rhodia would manufacture the products and supply them to NPIL on a tolling basis. He expected the relocation to be completed in about two years.

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