Morepen Buys Burnol Brand For Rs 8.95 Crore

Morepen Laboratories has acquired the Burnol brand from Reckitt Piramal for a consideration of Rs 8.95 crore.

An agreement with Reckitt Piramal was signed on Thursday to acquire the brand. Reckitt Piramal was looking at a consideration of Rs 15 crore from the brand sale, said sources familiar with the negotiations.

Reckitt Piramal had raked in a sales revenue of Rs 6.2 crore from the antiseptic brand last year. The brand is available in around three lakh retail outlets in the country.

Sushil N Suri, managing director, Morepen Laboratories, said: "The company will utilise its internal sources for acquiring the brand. The antiseptic market in India has a potential of around Rs 210 crore. The initial effort will be to strengthen its presence across the country. Exports of the Burnol brand are in the pipeline."

Antiseptic cream Burnol is expected to add to the growing over-the-counter (OTC) portfolio promoted under the Dr Morepen umbrella of Morepen Labs. Dr Morepen is the OTC subsidiary of Morepen Labs.

Morepen Laboratories has brands including Dab Fizz (antacid), Sat isabgol (laxative), Gol Goli (digestive) and C-Slip (energy supplements).

Reckitt Piramal is expected to be dissolved following the decision of Nicholas Piramal and Reckitt Benckiser to part ways.

Nicholas Piramal has decided to develop its joint venture with Boots Plc -- Boots Piramal -- as an OTC powerhouse into which Reckitt Piramal's other brands will be transferred.

The Burnol brand was earlier promoted by Knoll Pharmaceuticals, and Reckitt Piramal acquired the brand from Knoll in 1997.

Rabo Bank has already been given the mandate by Morepen to seek for potential brands for acquisition. Rabo India has structured the deal on behalf of Morepen, Rabo India managing director Rana Kapoor said.

Recently, Morepen has also mandated HSBC to identify a strategic partner amongst the generic pharmaceutical marketing companies in the US.

Morepen has reported a net profit of Rs 23.81 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal on sales of Rs 119.17 crore. During the period, Morepen's branded formulations business grew by 62 per cent.

Meanwhile, Dr Morepen, the OTC subsidiary of Morepen, is gearing to launch a series of nutraceutical products in the form of vitamins and health drinks over the next few months.