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02/15/2011 - Issue 0
Syrian drug firms may be target to aquisitions by Jordanian Hikma in 2011
Jordan-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals hopes to make $500 to $600m in acquisitions this year to consolidate its position as a leading player in the Middle East and North Africa, its chief executive said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Said Darwazah told Reuters the fast growing multinational drug manufacturer was targeting various markets not penetrated yet in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, such as Morocco, Syria and beyond the Arab world to Turkey and further south in east and west Africa.
"We could spend between $500m to $600m this year if we find enough acquisitions," Darwazah said.
Darwazah, whose firm's sales rank number one among regional manufacturers in the MENA region, said Hikma was growing faster than the market itself in the region that it was set to maintain at least 10 percent annual growth compared to a 2 to 3 percent in mature and industrialised markets.
Hikma sells off-patent generic drugs under its own brands and in licensed products across the Middle East and North Africa and generics in the United States.
The majority of its operations are in the US - via an acquisition in 1991 and in the Middle East and North Africa, principally in Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Jordan.
