Mumbai: Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has acquired a 79.37-per cent stake in Ranit Pharma Ltd (RPL) as part of its restructuring exercise.

The board of directors of Aurobindo Pharma, at its meeting held on 4 April 2002, unanimously agreed to acquire 68,97,525 equity shares of Rs 10 each of RPL. This forms 79.37-per cent of the present capital of RPL, a profit-making and dividend-paying unlisted company under the same management.

The cost of acquisition (Rs 14.50 per share) comes to Rs 10 crore. With this acquisition, RPL will become the subsidiary of Aurobindo Pharma with effect from 4 April 2002.

Aurobindo Pharma has said it has joined hands with Citadel Fine Pharmaceuticals Ltd (CFPL) to promote Citadel Aurobindo Biotech Ltd (CABL), a 50:50 joint venture (JV). CABL will combine the strengths and talent of two extremely strong pharmaceutical houses that have a proven track record.

The JV commences operations with four lines of branded formulation for the domestic ethical markets. The Citadel division will take over the identified branded formulation line of CFPL, while Aurobindo Pharma will transfer the identified branded formulation line to this new company. Citadel brands will contribute around 70-per cent of the turnover, while the rest comes from Aurobindo Pharma.

CABL will focus on specific therapeutic areas like cardiovascular, diabetology, gastroenterology, infection, nutrition and pain management. The new JV expects a turnover of about Rs 1,350 million in its first year of operation. CABL is well positioned to achieve high growth rates, given the combined strengths that the two partners bring to this JV. CABL will have a 800-field-force strength with an excellent network of over 1,500 stockists, distributors and clearing and forwarding agents.

The company will thus start out with an enormous marketing and distribution network, topnotch formulation research and development capabilities and an excellent pipeline of new generation molecules. In addition, substantial cost synergies will take place in the areas of finance, administration, distribution and services and the JV will have representation of five directors from each side.