Biogaran, a French pharmaceutical company acquired Swipha, a manufacture and marketer of pharmaceuticals in Nigeria

Acquiring Company: Biogaran, a French pharmaceutical company specialized in generic and biosimilar medicines, and a subsidiary of Servier

Acquired Company: Swipha, a Nigerian company that manufactures and distributes pharmaceutical products

Why this acquisition?

Swipha, a Nigerian pharmaceutical company that produces medicines to meet local health needs of Nigeria and other african countries. Its portfolio is mainly focused on three families of products: anti-anxiety and tranquillizers, antimalarial drugs and antibiotics, which treat Nigeria’s most widespread infections and health issues.

Swipha was the first Nigerian pharmaceutical company to obtain ISO 9001 certification in 2007. Approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014, Swipha employs 300 people locally and generated record sales of NGN 4bn (approximately €20 million) in 2012. Beyond its production unit, the company also has a wide distribution network covering most parts of Nigeria, Africa’s most dynamic country, with more than 184 million inhabitants in 2016 according to the IMF.

Pharmaceutical market of Africa has lot of growth opportunity. There is significant needs for good quality, affordable and efficient medicines, the problem of counterfeits is also becoming of concern. The WHO estimates that 100,000 deaths are due to fake medicines in Africa every year. In this context, supplying Nigeria’s population with reliable medicines that are produced locally is a strong commitment made by Biogaran.

So, this acquisition came as Biogaran’s international expansion strategy is to create synergies by bringing its expertise and investment capacity in production tools to existing structures.