Aurobindo Pharma completes $132.5-m acquisition of US firm Natrol

Aurobindo Pharma Limited today announced the completion of acquisition of assets of nutritional supplement maker, Natrol Inc and other affiliate entities (Natrol) through its wholly owned subsidiary Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc (APUSA).

The US arm of the Hyderabad-based company had last month won a bankruptcy auction for the firm with its bid of $132.5 million.

APUSA emerged as the highest and best bidder to acquire assets of Natrol in an auction supervised by the United States bankruptcy court for the district of Delaware.

APUSA acquired the manufacturing assets, personnel, commercial infrastructure including the well established nutraceuticals brands in USA of Natrol along with an agreement to take on certain liabilities, with a bid of $132.5 million.

The assets have been acquired under a wholly-owned subsidiary ''Nature Acquisition LLC'' and since changed to Natrol LLC. The final terms of acquisition are the same as originally envisaged during announcement made earlier.

APUSA expects the profitability to improve by combining the strength of both enterprises in creating a fully integrated nutraceuticals platform in the USA and other international markets.

''I am pleased that Aurobindo recognises the values of Natrol's uncompromised quality products, loyal customers, talented employees and solid relationships with our retailer partners. We look forward to working with the Aurobindo team to further expand our over-the counter product portfolio and our reach with the financial support of strong owners,'' Mesrop Khoudagoulian, CEO of Natrol, said.

''Natrol comes with certain well established brands and an extensive distribution network consisting of retail pharmacy chains and specialty health food stores, to help us tactically position ourselves in the US nutraceuticals space and offer an effective growth strategy to expand market penetration going forward,'' said N Govindarajan, managing director of Aurobindo stated.

Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma manufactures generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company's product portfolio is spread over 6 major therapeutic/product areas encompassing antibiotics, anti-retrovirals, CVS, CNS, gastroenterologicals, and anti-allergics.

The company's manufacturing facilities are approved by several leading regulatory agencies like US FDA, UK's MHRA, Japan's PMDA, WHO, Health Canada, MCC of South Africa and ANVISA of Brazil. The company markets these products in over 125 countries.