Olon SpA, owned by Italian chemical firm P&A Group, further grew its global manufacturing presence by adding its first facility in Asia.
When the deal completes, expected in early 2019, the new active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing space will be the tenth in Olon’s portfolio, joining its seven facilities in Italy and plants in Spain and the US.
The last few years have seen Olon expand through acquisitions, with CEO Paolo Tubertini referencing the company’s deal for Ricerca Biosciences chemical division in mid-2017 and this most recent deal as being indicative of the company’s push to broaden its capabilities.
A year prior to the deal for Ricerca’s unit, it had also bought Infa Group, which contributed to its European manufacturing network with three facilities.
Tubertini suggested that the deal will allow the company to expand into the Indian market, “We are impressed by the know-how at the Mahad plant and intend to leverage their expertise to develop new opportunities in the pharmaceutical market, in India and elsewhere.”
As well as expanding its manufacturing network with the purchase, Olon will gain an immediate big pharma partner – as it has signed a “long-term contract” to continue supplying APIs to Sandoz, the generics division of Novartis, from the acquired facility.
The financial details of the acquisition were not released on the deal.
A spokesperson for Olon commented that the plan is to bring new generic products to the market, as well as to look into developing an Indian contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO).