Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. acquires the Czech arm of US based firm Nanotherapeutics

Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. has acquired the Czech arm of US based firm Nanotherapeutics for 72 million Euros (around Rs. 500 crore) as part of its growth strategy. Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold, believes the deal will help increase production capacity of polio vaccines four-fold to more than 200 million doses by 2020 making it the largest injectable polio vaccine maker in the world. The company plans to invest another 40 million Euros (about Rs 280 crore) to upgrade Nanotherapeutics's manufacturing plant over the next two years.

"This acquisition complements our facility in Netherlands which we acquired five years ago and will increase our injectable polio vaccine capability four times to 200 million doses. While there is a requirement of 300 million doses each year globally, the production capacity stands at 100 million only and we will be able to bridge the gap (through this acquisition)," said Adar Poonawala, the chief executive officer of Serum Institute. "We will fund this acquisition through internal accruals," Poonawala also said there was no plan to sell any stake in the firm and added that the company continues to look at acquisitions as opportunities for inorganic growth.