Fosun revives $1.1bn bid for India’s Gland Pharma

A unit of China’s Fosun Group has agreed to acquire 74% of Indian drug company Gland Pharma for $1.1 billion, resurrecting a deal that was previously blocked by the Indian government, The Wall Street Journal reports. Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical said it is planning to buy 74% of Gland Pharma, a Hyderabad-based company that makes generic injectable drugs that are largely sold in the US. Fosun had earlier tried to buy 86% of the firm, a deal that was rejected by Indian policy makers last month. New Delhi last year relaxed its investment rules, allowing foreign companies to acquire up to 74% in local drugmakers without government approval. Fosun’s previously proposed $1.3 billion deal, announced in July last year, represented the largest-ever Chinese bid for an Indian company. It was turned down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government because authorities didn’t want the company to gain access to Gland Pharma’s unique injectables technology.