Summary :
BDR Pharma, the Mumbai-based drugmaker that raised around ₹750 crore earlier this year from Renuka Ramnath-led private equity (PE) fund Multiples Alternate Asset Management, is gearing up for geographic expansion that include plans to acquire controlling stake in a Belarus government-owned pharma unit.
“We are taking a facility in Belarus, because there is a Eurasion Custom Union (ECU) now between Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan – if you are national producer in any of the five ECU member countries, and if you are following Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) guidelines (on safety of medicines), then you are automatically registered in five countries and you get national producer status,” said Dharmesh Shah, chairman of BDR Pharmaceuticals in an interview to ET.
Shah said the Belarus facility can manufacture both formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
“Being a national producer will give a benefit of 20% over international companies (saving value added tax and excise duties), if you have backward integration of APIs then you get 45% benefit,” Shah added.
BDR will be investing $13 million in the Belarus facility. In addition, it is also investing in setting up a formulation manufacturing unit in Algeria to make anti-cancer medication at an investment of $12 million.