Glenmark today announced acquisition of the state-of-the-art active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility of GlaxoSmithKline based at Ankleshwar, Gujarat for Rs 14 crore.

Speaking at the press meet Glen Saldanha, managing director & CEO, said, "We are delighted to announce that we have acquired a world class Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient plant from GlaxoSmithKline as part of our growth strategy. This acquisition is line with our strategy to penetrate the regulated markets."

Sameer Paigankar, director, Strategic Planning, said, "The certification that the plant has received from various international certification agencies gives additional comfort level to our overseas customers."

V. Thyagarajan, vice chairman and managing director of GSK India said, "With the involvement of a leading investment bank, we actively examined range of options in respect of the Ankleshwar establishment and its emerged that selling the assets pertaining to the establishment would be the best option. We therefore offered our employees a generous VRS package with a view to protect their long term interests to which they responded extremely favourably." He further added, "Closing down the Ankleshwar operations and selling the assets will also lead to significant operational cost savings which will make the payback, even after absorbing VRS costs, extremely favourable."

The Ankleshwar plant is a global sourcing plant for GlaxoSmithKline and has approvals from various international certification agencies. This plant is spread over 50 acres consists of three manufacturing blocks that includes fermentation, a multi-purpose reactor set-up and a full scale plant. The facility in its current state complies with the regulatory requirements of developed markets meets the global standards.