No merger with Ranbaxy: Matrix Labs

New Delhi: Executive Officer at Matrix Labs Rajiv Malik says that the concord acquisition was done to fill the gap in their product portfolio.

He adds that they are talking to Ranbaxy for more business but there are no merger plans with them.

He also said that they have no plans to meet the Teva chief.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Rajiv Malik.

Q: Regarding rumours; one is that the Teva chief is coming to India to talk to you for a possible stake sale?

I think it is too much of speculation and as a policy we do not comment on market rumours. We don?t have any plans of meeting the Teva Chief.

Q: Have you had any talk with Ranbaxy for any kind of integration, consolidation ?

With Ranbaxy we are doing lot of business and always talking true business, but this is again a rumour. I would not like to comment on the issue.

Q: We do believe that the term that is being used is 'operational synergies,' are there indeed any synergies that might exist between these two in the future?

Yes, one such definite area is Anti-Detro virus where we have a lot of business relations and synergies with Ranbaxy. At the same time, Ranbaxy is one of our key customers for many of the APIs in US and Europe as well as in India. So there are a lot of operational relationships between two companies.

Q: Could you clarify your latest two acquisitions ? Concord Biotech and Explora?

Concord is an acquisition for fermentation and that has been one of the technology gaps in one of the product portfolio, as well as for Statin and several other related compounds. As we get FDA approved capacities; we also get access to more drug master files for USA as well as Europe.

In our business, fermentation or enzymatic reactions are one of the key technologies for the future, which can make a lot of synergy for our existing products. So there is a great deal of logical rationale behind this acquisition and we believe this will be a good fit and in addition to that, we get a set of competent people.

Q: Citalopram is not as important for you anymore, but how are things shaping up in that space?

Citalopram has been important and still is, but we are no more dependent on one product. But we still have the largest market share for this product, although the value has come down but volume wise the share has been growing.