Company Watch

Wanbury to invest Rs 50-60 crore in facility upgradation

Usha Sharma - Mumbai

Wanbury has plans to invest Rs 50-60 crore for upgrading its manufacturing facilities in India, which will be funded through Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), internal accruals and term loans. The up-gradation is expected to be completed by early 2010.

At present, Wanbury has four manufacturing facilities; one at Patalganga, two in Tarapur, on the outskirts of Mumbai and the fourth at Vijaywada, Hyderabad.

Speaking on their expansion plans, Ashok Shinkar, Director, Corporate Finance, Wanbury, said, "We have three operational facilities, one our own and the other two acquired. Our business model is mainly focused on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Contract Research and Manufacturing Services (CRAMS) activity. To cater to our existing and upcoming clients in a better way, we have planned to invest nearly Rs 60 core for upgrading our Patalganaga, Tarapur and Vijaywada manufacturing facilities."

The company has its therapeutic presence in anti-allergic, anti-depression, anti-diabetes, anti-inflammatory, Central Nervous System (CNS), cardiovascular (CVS), respiratory, gynaecology, paediatric, orthopaedics and pain management. Till now Wanbury has filed 27 drug master files (DMFs) and has already obtained approval for 14 DMFs. "We are planning to file six-eight DMFs every year in the regulated markets. For the current year, we will be launching several products for the domestic market especially for gynaecology and orthopaedics segment."

In the domestic market, the company has three divisions which cater to the general practitioner (GP), gynaecology, paediatric, orthopaedics and gastro-intestinal segments. The company has also already employed around 50-60 people in their specialty division. "We are also exploring new therapeutic areas and soon we will be able to launch our new products in domestic as well as in the international market," said K R N Moorthy, Deputy Managing Director, Wanbury.

Wanbury has a presence in more than 70 countries and is continuously expanding its business activities. With strong backup from the API and CRAMs business, the company is targeting a turnover of Rs 1260 crore by 2011. During 2007-08, it achieved a turnover of Rs 385 crore and it is expected to reach to Rs 560 crore in the current fiscal. Of this, API segment contributed Rs 150 crore and is expected to reach Rs 230 crore in the current fiscal. Similarly, the CRAMS segment contributed Rs 10 crore and is expected to touch Rs 50 crore by the end of current financial year.

Elaborating on the company's inorganic plans, Shinkar, said, "We are exploring business opportunities in CRAMS segment, we are in negotiation with many European companies for the same."

u.sharma@expressindia.com