Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd together with its subsidiaries today announced its intent to buy OctoPlus, Amsterdam for an offer price of €27.39 million.

In a statement the Hyderabad-based pharma major disclosed the intended public offer to acquire the issued and outstanding shares of OctoPlus N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: OCTO).

OctoPlus is a service based specialty pharmaceutical company. Dr Reddy's offer price of €27.39 million (cum-dividend) in cash, represents 100 per cent of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares. The offer price represents a premium of 30 per cent over the closing price of OctoPlus as of October 19.

Dr Reddy’s currently holds an irrevocable commitment from shareholders representing over 50 per cent of OctoPlus’s issued and outstanding shares. Further, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of OctoPlus have unanimously recommended the offer to the remaining shareholders.

This deal will help expand the expertise and scientific capabilities of Dr Reddy's.

G.V. Prasad, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Dr Reddy’s, said, “As we globalise our R&D efforts, we are looking forward to build a research base in Leiden (Netherlands). The acquisition will help us ramp up our technology capabilities in drug delivery.”

Assuming that the requisite numbers of shares are tendered by the balance shareholders, the transaction is likely to be concluded by the end of the current fiscal year, the disclosure stated.

Shares of DRL were trading at Rs 1,725 apiece, up 1.21 per cent or Rs 20.55 on the NSE in the early trade.

somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in