Lifeline plans to acquire two more firms in Hyd

Earmarks about Rs 240 crore for its organic and inorganic growth plans.

Having acquired Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Satvik Limited, Lifeline Industries has now set its sights on two more city companies. This apart, it is planning to acquire a company in the western part of the country.

Speaking to Business Standard, Vinod Chitalia, chief executive officer of the Mumbai-based company, said, “Talks are in an advanced stage and the two acquisitions would be closed shortly.” He declined to quantify the size of the deal but said the company had earmarked about $50 million (approximately Rs 240 crore) for its organic and inorganic growth and the two new targets were part of the plan.

Meanwhile, Lifeline, which bought Satvik for Rs 25 crore, is working to upgrade the latter's manufacturing facility. Satvik currently has a capacity to manufacture 100 tonne of ibrufen per month. In two years, the plant, which will have forward and backward integration of ibrufen's production line, would manufacture 400 tonne every month.

Satvik’s manufacturing facility would also be made WHO-complaint in the first phase after which Lifeline would seek the US FDA approval. Satvik Limited will continue to operate with the same name for about nine months and will later be called Lifeline.

In the next phase, Lifeline will upgrade its Mahar and Sholapur plants and make them FDA-compliant. The company gets about 80 per cent of its revenues from the domestic market and the remaining from markets in the US, Africa, Japan and Europe. Its revenues last year stood at $65 million (Rs 312 crore).

Chitalia said the company was entering the anti-fungal and diabetic segments apart from strengthening its presence in pain management, cardiac and anti-allergic segments. It will also get into contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) to explore new revenue channels. “We are seeing a Rs 250-crore opportunity in CRAMS as big companies are under pressure to maintain their profitability,” he said, adding Lifeline had about 30 products in its R&D basket.