Dive Brief:
- In the past three years, South Africa-based Aspen Pharmacare has spent more than $2 billion on acquisitions from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck.
- Aspen Pharmacare Holdings is based in Durbin, South Africa, and is the largest generics manufacturer in Africa.
- For the first half of this year, sales have grown by 22% to $2.6 billion. Net revenues were $380 million.
Dive Insight:
In May, Aspen announced that it was in talks to buy Nestle's nutritionals business, but that deal fell apart and now Aspen is hunting for other acquisitions, including in the pharma space.
The company's goal is to acquire businesses in the infant-milk space, as well as anticoagulation and women's health. Aspen has a presence in 150 countries and gets much of its revenue via international sales, and is currently most interested in acquisitions in China, Japan and Southeast Asia, according to Bloomberg.
The company has signaled interest in any "great opportunity," but is especially focused on its target areas of growth. Given the 46% gain in its international revenue, this is a good time for Aspen to look abroad in order to bolster its business and keep growing.