Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has announced the completion of the acquisition of a 96.7 per cent stake by Ranbaxy Netherlands BV in the leading Romanian pharmaceutical company Terapia SA (Terapia) following the approval by the Romanian Competition Council (RCC).

Earlier the company had announced the acquisition of the equity stake in Terapia from Terapia Holding BV for a sum of US$ 324 million. The deal combines the strengths of the two premier generic companies and allows the company to leverage its expanded base in the rapidly growing Romanian pharmaceutical market, across the European Union and the CIS markets. The combination of Terapia with the company's existing Romanian activities creates the leading generics company in the Romanian market and will additionally boost the company's presence in the fast growing CIS markets.

Malvinder Singh, CEO and managing director of the company, said "I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the entire Terapia workforce to the Ranbaxy fold. With the completion of the transaction Romania now becomes the third largest market for us in terms of revenue. We are deeply committed to developing our operation here as a strategic hub for Europe and CIS. We will continue to strengthen our global presence, particularly in our key geographies."

Speaking on the occasion Peter Burema, president, Ranbaxy, Europe, CIS, Africa & Latin America said, "Our decision to scale up our presence in Romania underscores the strong belief we have in the potential of this market. We are pleased with the pace of closure. Our intent now is to seamlessly integrate the two organizations so that synergies in terms of R&D, manufacturing, product line-up and distribution can be smoothly transferred to the marketplace."

Following last weeks shareholders general meeting, the board of Terapia has been further strengthened with the induction of four new directors from the company - Ram S Ramasundar, Peter Burema, Pushpinder Bindra and Vasi Irimia. All board members bring comprehensive understanding, extensive experience and domain knowledge essential for success in an intensely competitive and increasingly global marketplace.

Terapia is an integrated, commercially focused pharma company which has a broad portfolio and deep new product pipeline, excellent R&D capabilities, world class in-house bioequivalence facilities, low cost manufacturing, and strong distribution network that includes the largest and most powerful generic sales force in the Romanian pharmaceutical market.