Endo to buy Mexican speciality pharmaceuticals company Somar

Endo International is to buy Grupo Farmaceutico Somar, a privately-owned speciality pharmaceuticals company based in Mexico City, Mexico, for an undisclosed cash consideration.

Rajiv de Silva, President and CEO of Endo, said the purchase provided the company with a strong growth platform in Mexico that could be leveraged more broadly in Latin America, as well as a proven sales team and scalable manufacturing facilities.

Endo already had a foothold in Mexico through its US$1.6bn purchase of Paladin Labs, which completed earlier this year.

'We look forward to leveraging Endo's global resources to take full advantage of Somar's robust pipeline, which currently includes over 60 products expected to launch over the next three years,' said de Silva.

Somar is focused on the development, manufacturing, marketing and commercialisation of high-quality products across all key market segments in Mexico. Its portfolio targets Mexico's non-patented pharmaceutical market through three primary segments: generics (private label and traditional generics, as well as products for government tender), branded generics (dermatology and infectious disease platforms), and OTC (women's health and childcare products). The company generated approximately US$100m of revenue in 2013 and employs around 1,200 people.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.

Endo's global headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, and its US headquarters are in Malvern, PA.