Lupin buys U.S. generic drugmaker GAVIS for $880 million

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Lupin Ltd , India's fourth-largest drugmaker by sales, has agreed to buy U.S. peer GAVIS Pharmaceuticals LLC for $880 million to increase its presence in the United States, its largest market, where sales growth has slowed.

Lupin said U.S. sales fell 31 percent to $180 million in April-June, leading to a net profit decline of 16 percent to 5.25 billion rupees ($82.35 million). That compared with the 6 billion rupees estimate of 45 analysts polled by Reuters.

The drugmaker's U.S. growth has been hampered by a slower pace of winning generic drug approvals since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration overhauled its generics review process.

Lupin said buying privately held GAVIS would give it access to 66 generic drugs for which the New Jersey firm has sought approval, representing a potential market value of $9 billion.

Lupin would also gain dermatology drugs, controlled substance products and other speciality generics.

The Indian drugmaker said it expects GAVIS to contribute to earnings in the first full year after purchase. Last year, GAVIS' sales reached $96 million.

GAVIS could not be reached for comment outside of regular U.S. business hours.

Shares of Lupin closed 5.3 percent lower after the announcement, compared with a 0.5 percent fall in the Nifty.

($1 = 63.7500 rupees)

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui; Editing by Christopher Cushing)