Religare to buy Piramal Diagnostic for Rs 600 crore

Leading diagnostic services firm Super Religare Laboratories (SRL) has agreed to buy Piramal Healthcare’s diagnostics arm Piramal Diagnostic Services Private Limited (PDSL) for Rs 600 crore. The deal will make SRL the country’s largest diagnostic services provider as PDSL’s network of 107 laboratories,with a FY’10 revenue of over Rs 200 crore,will come under its fold.

Chairman Ajay Piramal said,“PDSL’s network has committed professionals who have built this business over the past decade. We feel it is the right time to take the business to the next level and this development will give it the scale and size to serve a much larger base of Indian customers with a high level of quality and care.” This is the second sale by the Piramal in the recent past. Piramal Healthcare had already sold its domestic solutions business for $3.72 billion (about Rs 18,000 crore) to US-based Abbott in May. Piramal had agreed not to engage in generic pharmaceutical business in India for the next eight years.

Piramal would receive Rs 300 crore on closing of the deal and the balance over three years. “It will also continue to be involved in the business,including by way of representation on the board of directors and the executive committee of SRL,” the company said.