India’s biggest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said Tuesday it was pumping in $7 million for a 15.9% stake in US-based bio-pharmaceutical company Krystal Biotech Inc.
According to a stock market disclosure by Sun Pharma, the transaction, which does not require regulatory approvals, will be completed on Wednesday.
Founded in March, Krystal Biotech is engaged in gene therapy research to develop treatments for rare debilitating disorders.
Of late, the company backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has been on an acquisition spree both at home and in foreign markets.
Last month, it had invested Rs 85.5 crore in Zenotech Laboratories Ltd to raise its stake in the Hyderabad-based company from 46.85% to 57.56%.
In March, the company had agreed to acquire Canadian pharmaceuticals firm Thallion Pharmaceuticals Inc for about $2 million.
In November 2016, the drugmaker had said it would acquire an 85.1% stake in Russian drugmaker JSC Biosintez as part of its strategy to expand in emerging markets.
The October last year, it had agreed to acquire Ocular Technologies from global private equity firm Auven Therapeutics to boost its ophthalmic pipeline.
In March 2016, Sun Pharma had said that it would acquire 14 prescription brands from Swiss firm Novartis AG in Japan for $293 million, in a deal that would help the company establish a strong footprint in the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical market.
Sun Pharma had posted consolidated operating revenue of Rs 31,578 crore in the year ended 31 March 2017. The company shares fell 1.1% to Rs 500.4 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday.
