Cambrex Corporation, US, has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Zenara Pharma, a Hyderabad based pharmaceutical company focused on the formulation of final dosage form products for a consideration of US$ 20 million. The name of the company will be change to Cambrex Zenara. Cambrex will acquire the remaining 49 per cent in early 2016 at a value based on a weighted combination of a multiple of 2015 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and cumulative EBITDA for the years 2011 through 2015.

Cambrex is one of the leading global suppliers to the large and growing Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) market providing both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage form products. The acquisition will creates the opportunity to integrate Cambrex's API and drug delivery capabilities with Zenara's broad range of formulation and finished dosage form capabilities. Further it will provide a development and manufacturing platform for Cambrex within the increasingly important and growing Indian pharmaceutical market and creates the ability to develop and manufacture cost effective products for high growth emerging markets.

Steve Klosk, the president and CEO of Cambrex commented, "This transaction represents another significant step in Cambrex's strategic objective of enhancing our technology portfolio and providing high value products to the pharmaceutical industry. We are excited to partner with Zenara and believe the combination of capabilities and technologies will make us a global leader in providing products for the approximately $1.5 billion NRT market. The integration of Cambrex's API and drug delivery business with Zenara's formulation and finished dosage experience enables Cambrex to provide greater benefit to our pharmaceutical customers. We commend the team at Zenara for building a strong company and we look forward to working with them to rapidly grow the business."

Ashok Narasimhan, the president of Cambrex Zenara added, "Cambrex, with its leading position in western markets for the development and manufacture of APIs, and its history of supplying products to the NRT market, is a natural partner for Zenara. Our technology and cost position enable us to supply cost effective products to our customers in both developed and higher growth emerging markets. We are currently supporting our customer's launch of NRT gums and lozenges in India, with roll-outs in several other high potential markets to follow in 2011 and beyond. We look forward to working with Cambrex to accelerate our market penetration and expand access for both companies to new product categories, geographies and customers."

Zenara integrates high quality development & manufacturing capabilities and pharmaceutical services from India with opportunities for Licensing, Contract Manufacturing and Pharmaceutical/Regulatory Services in EU, US and Japan. Zenara Pharma is an integrated pharmaceutical company with operations in EU and India.

Zenara is supplying cost effective Rx and OTC pharmaceuticals as well as key pharmaceutical/ regulatory services to companies worldwide. It has a solid oral manufacturing facility in India with capacity of over one billion units per annum with an integrated product development laboratory with capacity to produce over 1 billion tablets and capsules per annum. Zenara is located within an hours drive from downtown Hyderabad – India’s hub for hi-tech and pharmaceutical industries. Other dosage forms including liquids, injectables, inhalers, Beta Lactams & cephalosporins are manufactured through associate manufacturing sites in India.