Sanofi has acquired a fast growing Colombian manufacturer in a deal that gives it a leading position in the country and expands its generics portfolio and Latin American footprint.
Although Colombia is not a key emerging market for the pharma industry, buying Bogota-based Genfar will give Sanofi a stepping-stone to a number of larger Latin American markets.
Heraldo Marchezini, Sanofi’s senior vice president for Latin America, said: “With the acquisition of Genfar, Sanofi has a unique opportunity to strengthen its presence in Latin America through a large portfolio of affordable pharmaceuticals in a broad range of markets in the Andean countries and Central America.”
Genfar is the second largest generics company by sales, and leader by units, in Colombia, and has commercial operations in Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and ten Latin America other countries.
The company manufactures and produces generic, over the counter, and prescription drugs, and made $133m in sales last year, 30 per cent of which came from outside Colombia. This performance made it one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Colombia.
The deal will also boost Sanofi’s animal health business in the region, adding a range of products to the portfolio managed by the French pharma company’s Merial business unit.
Sanofi said the ‘bolt-on’ acquisition of Genfar was “an excellent strategic fit” and support its emerging markets strategy.
This strategy has already seen Sanofi make a brace of generic acquisitions in 2009 in Latin American, buying Mexico’s Laboratorios Kendrick and Brazilian company Medley, and the region accounts for more of the company’s sales than other set of emerging markets.
In the first three months of 2012, Sanofi’s revenues from Latin America were worth €788m, compared with Asia (€665m), Eastern Europe and Turkey (€657m), or Africa and the Middle East (both just over €200m).
Financial details of the deal, which is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2013, were not disclosed.