Polymed to buy US co for $20 million

DISPOSABLE medical device manufacturer Polymed is set to acquire an US based medical device company for around $18-20 million. It is learnt that the company is now in the final stages of negotiations and conducting the due diligence. The deal is expected to be finalized by October or early November. A source said that the acquisition will be an all-cash transaction and the company will fund the acquisition through overseas borrowings and internal accruals.

Polymed has been looking to tap the lucrative US market which accounts for 25% of the global $70-80 billion medical device market. Disposable medical devices are intermediate products used for drug delivery and generally made from plastics. Common medical device include syringes, blood bags, catheter, infusion sets and fluid management products.

As part of its growth plans, Polymed is targeting to earn 15% of its revenue from the US market by 2010. The company has also applied for a US Foods and Drugs Administration (USFDA) approval for its new plan in the country and plans to start exports of four products to the US soon once FDA approves the plant.

An acquisition in the US would thus give Polymed immediate foothold in the market. A source said the target company in the US has a USFDA approved manufacturing plant and markets around 15 products in the country. Polymed can also leverage the existing marketing and distribution network of the American company when it starts exporting from its Indian plant. The American company has a staff strength of around 200 people.

Currently, the Indian medical device market is about Rs.1,500 crore, of which Rs.300-400 crore worth of goods are exported, mostly in unregulated markets.

(Ref.: Economic Times Dated 1 , October 2007)

Expro 68 participants from Columbia, Egypt, Tunisia Pakistan, India, Jordan and South Africa Seminar alongwith CBI Officials Ljenka Cuypers, Wiebe Vos, Cynthia Schenk and Consultants Leendert Santema, Arjan Hock and Fred Jansen

The Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) is an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Since 1971, it has supported the export of non-traditional products and services to the EU. The aim of the CBI is to contribute to the economic independence of selected developing countries. Since 1990, CBI, has been organising orientation seminars on international marketing and management with a focus on doing business with Europe. The "EXPRO" seminars are an integrated part of CBI’s Export Coaching Programmes. In EXPRO 68 (September 17- 22, 2007 ) 5 Indian Companies participated in the Seminar. The EXPRO seminar is part of the Export Coaching Programme (ECP) for medical and laboratory equipment . The seminar looked into the European Market in more detail and how to do business in Europe. The main issue discussed was how to put an Export Marketing Plan ( EMP ) in practice and achieve the objectives set in the Export Maketing Plan. The seminar provided practical knowledge and skills about the EU Market with the help of following tools : Passive transfer - through lectures and presentations by CBI experts Active transfer - through assignments and discussions, during the lectures and group work - through individual counselling with CBI product experts - through a company visit Creative transfer - through case studies and exercises in workshop sessions. It was a very practical seminar and an excellent preparation for the participation in the Medica 2007 trade fair to be held in Dusseldorf , Germany. CBI will present companies from Columbia, Egypt, Tunisia Pakistan, India ( 9 Companies ) , Jordan and South Africa who will participate during Medica, the world’s most significant trade fair for medical devices. CBI will introduce both distributors of general products as suppliers of more specialised devices. A range of commodities, disposable products and highly sophisticated monitoring equipment will be displayed. To get an idea of the variety, CBI has made a summary of the innovation on show : Extra corporeal open hart circuits, laser equipment, suction pumps, syringes, laboratory centrifuges and blood mixers, equipment for stutter therapy, specialised surgical and endoscopic instruments, instruments for in vitro diagnostics and many more. CBI participants in the Medical 2006 - all ISO9000/2000 or CE-certified - registered 760 business contacts, booking over Euro 87,000 worth of orders and another Euro 15.5 million or so of expected orders. For more details on CBI Export Coaching Programmes, visit www.cbi.eu or contact D L Pandya, Editor & CEO, www.medisourceasia.com E-Mail : info@medisourceasia.com