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Sun Pharma Buys Able Labs Assets for $23M
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: January 12, 2006 06:29am
CRANBURY, NJ-Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has closed on the acquisition of the assets of rival generic drug maker Able Laboratories. Those assets, which include two major real estate properties, went for a total of $23.15 million. At the direction of the US Bankruptcy Court of the District of New Jersey, Trenton, Able had put its assets up for auction in early November, and the court accepted Sun’s as the highest bid in December.
“The completion of the Able asset purchase significantly strengthens our ability to compete in the US generic market,” says Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun Pharma, a Mumbai, India-based company that has its US headquarters in Michigan. “This will allow for a quick product rollout, especially in the controlled substances market. The sale was concluded for Able by its director of restructuring, Richard M. Sheppard.
“We will be working for a turnaround as we did with Caraco,” Shanghvi says, a reference to Sun’s strategic alliance with the Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs in 1997. Sun ultimately became the majority shareholder of that company.
The purchase includes certain intellectual property and existing contracts, but the most tangible assets are Able’s real estate holdings. They include the company’s existing lease for its 225,000-sf headquarters complex here. The building’s owner, locally based Matrix Development Group, bought the asset from Bristol-Myers Squibb in September 2003 for a reported $9.3 million and quickly signed Able Labs to a full-building lease for 12 years with two five-year extensions. Able completed its move-in from five different locations in late 2004.
The other asset acquired by Sun as part of the deal is the 50,000-sf building at 6 Hollywood Ct. in South Plainfield. As reported by GlobeSt.com, Able had acquired the building in late 2003 and subsequently utilized it for the administration and manufacture of its generic liquid pharmaceutical product line.
Able’s woes trace to concerns expressed by officials of the US Food and Drug Administration over the data and internal lab practices that the company used to get that agency’s approval for the sale of several products. In early May 2005, Able suspended the manufacturing and marketing of its entire product line, and later that month voluntarily recalled its products. In mid-July, the company filed a Chapter XI petition, and a month later the company’s board of directors voted to sell the company’s assets. Sun officials say they will review the data acquired as intellectual property and reapply to the FDA to bring the particular products to market.
Sun Pharma Buys Able Labs Assets for $23M
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: January 12, 2006 06:29am
CRANBURY, NJ-Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has closed on the acquisition of the assets of rival generic drug maker Able Laboratories. Those assets, which include two major real estate properties, went for a total of $23.15 million. At the direction of the US Bankruptcy Court of the District of New Jersey, Trenton, Able had put its assets up for auction in early November, and the court accepted Sun’s as the highest bid in December.
“The completion of the Able asset purchase significantly strengthens our ability to compete in the US generic market,” says Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun Pharma, a Mumbai, India-based company that has its US headquarters in Michigan. “This will allow for a quick product rollout, especially in the controlled substances market. The sale was concluded for Able by its director of restructuring, Richard M. Sheppard.
“We will be working for a turnaround as we did with Caraco,” Shanghvi says, a reference to Sun’s strategic alliance with the Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs in 1997. Sun ultimately became the majority shareholder of that company.
The purchase includes certain intellectual property and existing contracts, but the most tangible assets are Able’s real estate holdings. They include the company’s existing lease for its 225,000-sf headquarters complex here. The building’s owner, locally based Matrix Development Group, bought the asset from Bristol-Myers Squibb in September 2003 for a reported $9.3 million and quickly signed Able Labs to a full-building lease for 12 years with two five-year extensions. Able completed its move-in from five different locations in late 2004.
The other asset acquired by Sun as part of the deal is the 50,000-sf building at 6 Hollywood Ct. in South Plainfield. As reported by GlobeSt.com, Able had acquired the building in late 2003 and subsequently utilized it for the administration and manufacture of its generic liquid pharmaceutical product line.
Able’s woes trace to concerns expressed by officials of the US Food and Drug Administration over the data and internal lab practices that the company used to get that agency’s approval for the sale of several products. In early May 2005, Able suspended the manufacturing and marketing of its entire product line, and later that month voluntarily recalled its products. In mid-July, the company filed a Chapter XI petition, and a month later the company’s board of directors voted to sell the company’s assets. Sun officials say they will review the data acquired as intellectual property and reapply to the FDA to bring the particular products to market.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:06 AM
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