Piramal to buy US healthcare data firm Decision Resources for Rs3,400 crore
16 May 2012
Piramal Healthcare Ltd is acquiring US-based healthcare data provider Decision Resources Group for about Rs3,400 crore ($635 million) in a bid to boost its drug development portfolio.
The acquisition, the biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian company in over six months, comes close on the heels of Piramal's acquisition of worldwide rights to the molecular imaging research and development portfolio of Bayer Pharma AG last month.
Mumbai-based Piramal Healthcare hopes to close the acquisition of Burlington, Massachusetts-based Decision Resources by end-June.
The Ajay Piramal group company, armed with the $3.7-billion proceeds from the 2010 sale of its India formulations business to US-based Abbott Laboratories, has been looking to expand its R&D operations.
Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, has about 300 analysts and is likely to bring in revenues of $160 million in 2012, according to Piramal Healthcare.
"This is a niche business that has stable revenues, low capex but high cash flows," Ajay Piramal told a news conference.