Cash flush Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Healthcare (PHL), announced his second acquisition in a space of 30 days on Wednesday. The company bought US-based healthcare information services company Decision Resources Group (DRG) for $635 million (Rs 3,400 crore), exactly a month after it announced the acquisition of Bayer’s molecular imaging research and development portfolio which includes the rights to an Alzheimer’s treatment drug.
The deal that grants PHL 100% equity control over DRG will be funded through an equal mix of debt and equity. It gives PHL a foothold in the $5.7 billion (Rs 31,000 crore) global healthcare information industry and is expected to add $160 million (Rs 871 crore) to its topline in the current year.
“After we sold off our business, we needed to crate a new portfolio of businesses in our company that have a high long-term growth potential due to intellectual proprietary advantages,” said Piramal, explaining the rationale for entering the business segment.
PHL has also identified five key areas where it is looking for both buy-outs and greenfield growth opportunities in India and overseas. These are in the areas of drug discovery, pharmaceuticals, healthcare information management, financial services and defence. “We are looking at homeland security and surveillance systems and products and could announce an acquisition in that area within this year,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}PHL has also identified five key areas where it is looking for both buy-outs and greenfield growth opportunities in India and overseas. These are in the areas of drug discovery, pharmaceuticals, healthcare information management, financial services and defence. “We are looking at homeland security and surveillance systems and products and could announce an acquisition in that area within this year,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}PHL had sold off its domestic formulations business under Piramal Healthcare Solutions to Abbott in 2010 for $3.7 billion, of which $1.6 billion was to be paid in equated yearly installments spread over four years. “Abbott still has to pay Rs 6,000 crore over the next three years,” he said, when asked about the funding required for the DRG deal.
PHL shares ended 0.95% down at Rs 427.60 on the BSE, on a day when the Sensex fell 1.83% to close at 16,030 points.