Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan's third- biggest drugmaker, completed its acquisition of a controlling stake in India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. to expand in the faster-growing market for generic medicines.
The Japanese drugmaker owns 268.7 million shares, or 63.9 percent, the companies said today in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Chief Executive Officer Takashi Shoda, 60, agreed in June to acquire control of Ranbaxy for as much as 198 billion rupees ($4.1 billion) to enter the market for generic drugs, where sales are growing almost twice as fast as demand for branded medicines.
“We are pleased to announce that all the planned transactions of this landmark deal have been successfully completed,'' Shoda said in the statement.
Daiichi Sankyo, the maker of the Benicar hypertension medicine, is mimicking Novartis AG and Johnson & Johnson in diversifying as sales of branded products slow. Price cuts in Japan mean Daiichi Sankyo's profit is likely to fall this year as its main blood pressure treatments lose sales.
Source: Bloomberg