Aurobindo Pharma announced that wholly owned subsidiary, Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc., USA, has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets from Sandoz Inc., USA (Sandoz), a Novartis Division, comprising a market leading dermatology business and a portfolio of oral solid products along with commercial and manufacturing infrastructure in the US. The acquisition will be on debt free and cash free basis.

Aurobindo and Sandoz will enter into a transitional services agreement to support the ongoing growth plans of the businesses being acquired by Aurobindo. The transaction will be an all cash transaction which Aurobindo will finance through a fully committed debt facility.

This US acquisition is in line with Aurobindo's strategy to strengthen and grow its global business and to expand and enhance its product portfolio offerings in key therapeutic areas.

The transaction is expected to close in the course of 2019 following the completion of customary closing conditions, including FTC clearance.

This is a carved out business of Sandoz in US and the product portfolio consists of Dermatology, CNS, Alimentary Tract/Metabolic, Women's Health, Anti-infectives, Systemic Hormones and others along with three manufacturing facilities situated in Hicksville and Melville in New York and Wilson in North Carolina.

N. Govindarajan, Managing Director of Aurobindo, said, ''The acquisition announced today is in line with our strategy to grow and diversify our business in the US. Acquiring these businesses from Sandoz will allow us to further expand our product offering and to become a leading player in the generic dermatology market. Overall the transaction will position Aurobindo as the 2nd largest dermatology player and the 2nd largest generics company in the US by prescriptions. We expect a seamless integration of the acquired businesses with the rest of the Aurobindo group given the success we have achieved in our acquisitions to date. As we have done in some of our previous acquisitions, we will be focused on leveraging our Group's market leading vertically integrated and highly efficient manufacturing base to enhance the market position and medium-term profitability of the businesses we are acquiring.''

Govindarajan added, "We look forward to delivering the benefits of this transaction to all our stakeholders including employees, patients, customers and healthcare providers across the US.''

Shares of the company gained Rs 29.05, or 4.17%, to trade at Rs 725.15. The total volume of shares traded was 177,521 at the BSE (10.10 a.m., Thursday).