Company Watch

SIRO acquires Omega Mediation

Suja Nair - Mumbai

SIRO Clinpharm announced the signing of an acquisition agreement of Omega Mediation Group, a midsized European CRO, for an undisclosed amount in an all cash deal. The deal will give SIRO 100 percent stake in Omega. SIRO has acquired Omega that had been established by Sofia Hofmann, who is currently the Managing Director of the company. Omega conducts phase II-IV clinical trails and has a clientele from pharma and biotechnology industry across Europe and Israel. It has offices in Offenbach, Germany; Athens, Greece, Talinn, Estonia and near Tel Aviv, Israel.

On the acquisition Chetan Tamhankar, Chief Operating Officer, SIRO, said, "Finding new investigators and patients were the main reason that initiated SIRO to move towards Europe and Omega also known as a 'trouble shooting CRO' was a suitable contender. They have a very strong local presence and through them we will get an easy excess to Central and Eastern European countries and Israel where they have presence." He also added that apart from the slight cost difference the European market is very similar to the Indian market and that is the main reason why SIRO had decided to acquire a European company. The combined entities of SIRO and Omega will have a turnover of over Rs 200 crore.

Omega will continue to function independently and the promoters and the current management will continue to be the same, said Tamhankar. This transaction is the latest in a series of carefully planned internal and external moves to position SIRO among the leading midsized CROs worldwide. This acquisition is not the first in the line of acquisition by SIRO, in the early July 2007 SIRO acquired Global Client Partners (GCP), a US based CRO with strong client network among the US biotech and pharma companies. On being asked whether SIRO had any more plans to expand in US, he stated that in US SIRO aims to provide services in the niche operational and sales capabilities. Recently, SIRO had also tied up with Oracle for leveraging IT solutions to cater to the pharma and biotech industry.

SIRO, with 60 to 70 percent growth rate, has around 400 people in India today, and with this acquisition it plans to spread its reach across the world. The global clinical trial industry is estimated at about $15 billion (Rs 60,000 crore) and the domestic CRO industry is estimated to have a turnover of $300-350 million (Rs 1,200-1,400 crore) with over 100 players. The CRO industry in India is projected to grow to $2 billion (Rs 8,000 crore) by 2010.

suja.nair@expressindia.com