Hsbc To Hunt Us Ally For Morepen

Morepen Laboratories Ltd has mandated HSBC to identify a strategic partner amongst the generic pharmaceutical marketing companies in the US.

"We want to enter the US market. At the same time we do not want to establish our own marketing network. Therefore, we are looking for a partner there. There is no point in re-inventing the wheel," Morepen chairman & managing director Sushil Suri said. The US is the world's largest pharmaceutical market.

Suri disclosed that he is open to the idea of giving an equity stake in Morepen to the US partner. "We would have liked a clean deal. But, traditionally these companies pick up an equity stake," he said adding that it was premature to comment on how much stake he is prepared to offer to the partner. "It could also take the shape of a special purpose vehicle where both the partners would contribute to the equity," he added. Along with associate companies, the shareholding of the promoters in Morepen is 51 per cent.

HSBC will furnish a list of prospective partners in the US by the end of the year after which negotiations will begin. "We are looking at companies that are looking at manufacturing in India," Suri added.

It is worth noting that Morepen has USFDA-approved production facilities. HSBC is known to have already circulated an information memorandum among the generic pharmaceutical companies in the US.

The Morepen board of directors today took on record the unaudited Q2 results for the current financial year. While Q2 profit after tax improved by 15 per cent from Rs 20.70 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 23.81 crore, net sales went up by 13 per cent from Rs 105.16 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 119.17 crore in 2001-02. During the period, Morepen's branded formulations business grew by 62 per cent.

It has been ranked amongst the five fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in India (ORG September 2000-01).

During the quarter under review, the company's anti-emetic drug DOM DT and antibiotic Saltum have recorded a growth of 110 per cent and 121 per cent respectively. In July 2001, Morepen had launched antibiotic Saltumax, a combination of salbactum and cefeperazone. According to a company release, Saltumax has recorded sales worth over Rs 4.14 crore during the quarter. Saltumax is the second drug in its category after Pfizer's Magnex.