India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories (Ranbaxy), on Monday announced that the South Africa Competition Commission had approved its acquisition of Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals (Be-Tabs) for R500-million, making Ranbaxy the fifth-largest generic pharmaceutical company in South Africa.

As part of the acquisition, Ranbaxy concluded a black empowerment transaction with a community investment holding group company.

"The acquisition of Be-Tabs will ensure that Ranbaxy develops deeper roots in SA and with a strong local flavour," said Ranbaxy's global pharmaceutical division president Peter Burema.

A key element of the Be-Tabs deal was that it gave Ranbaxy local manufacturing capability - making the company one of the few generics pharmaceutical companies to invest in and develop local manufacturing functionality, the company said in statement.

"The company's decision to manufacture locally will not only help to provide quality medicine at an affordable price to the Southern African market, but will also mean a further investment of approximately R100-million in the local economy," said Ranbaxy South Africa CE Desmond Brothers.

Meanwhile, Ranbaxy was also planning a major upgrade of the Be-Tabs manufacturing facility to bring its factories in line with new standards.

The acquisition of Be-Tabs substantially strengthened Ranbaxy's basket of products that it brought to the market – especially in the acute and over-the-counter product streams.

In future, some of Ranbaxy's clinical trials will also be performed in South Africa.

"Currently, very few generics clinical trials are performed locally and Ranbaxy is excited to be able to offer this service to health care practitioners. It will allow the South African medical fraternity - especially medical specialists - the chance to take a much closer look at the use of specific drugs and to establish the efficacy of results to their satisfaction," said Burema.

The acquisition of Be-Tabs is expected to boost earnings by more than double.

Be-Tabs will remain an independent trading entity and will form one of the three companies within the Ranbaxy SA Group - the other two being Sonke Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy (South Africa).

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