Bangalore: Strides Arcolab has acquired Grandix Pharmaceuticals, Chennai, for Rs100 crore marking its foray into the national pharma scene.

Strides Arcolabs, which financed the deal by debt and internal resources said the deal would enable it to ramp-up its businesses and introduce its own products into the Indian market.

Strides recently, acquired an Italian fermentation facility for an undisclosed sum.

Strides Arcolab''s scrip closed lower at Rs326.95, after opening at Rs 336 and touching Rs342.50 intra-day.

Post acquisition the immediate plan is to leverage existing products of Grandix with Strides'' R&D pipeline. It will increase field sales strength nationwide to 400 from July.

Grandix, started in 1996, is a branded pharmaceutical company with operations in the South. It registered a turnover of Rs48.50 crore in 2006-07 and EBITDA of Rs10.89 crore. Strides said the 2007 sales growth was expected to be over 30 per cent.

Grandix has portfolio of over 100 products includes anti-diabetics, anti-hypertensives and painkillers. Its flagship brand, ReNerve vitamin capsules, is worth over Rs30 crore; it was the main attraction and a good fit for Strides which is the world''s No. 5 soft gel maker. Strides Arcolab has 13 plants in India, Latin America, the US and Europe, manufactures generic anti-HIV drugs for export markets, as also anti-infectives, tuberculosis and malaria drugs. Its formulations are in various dosage forms, as soft and hard gelatin capsules, tablets, liquid injectibles and steriles. It closed 2006 with a group turnover of Rs760 crore.