The mega European pharma merger of Boots Group with Alliance Unichem and its subsequent decision to put Boots Healthcare on the block is likely to impact operations of the Indian joint venture, Boots Piramal Healthcare.
Boots-Piramal, a 51:49 joint venture between the European major and Nicholas Piramal, is one of the leading OTC players in the Indian healthcare market.
"It is uncertain that the new entity Boots-Alliance Unichem or a changed entity after the divestment of Boots Healthcare would go ahead with its existing arrangement with local partners globally," said an industry analyst.
British pharmaceutical groups Boots Group and Alliance UniChem on Monday announced a merger to create a 2,600-store healthcare giant with sales in excess of 13 billion pounds ($23 billion).
At present Alliance Unichem does not any presence in India. "But, since India is emerging as a leading market as well as key global sourcing base for multinationals, there is every possibility for the merged entity to think about a strong base in this market," said industry analysts.
However, analysts said if the European company takes a strategic decision to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in India, it would prefer to realign existing business structure in the country. This may result in either a restructuring of the joint venture or terminating the same, the industry sources added.
Recently, the British OTC major Boots Healthcare International had announced that it has plans to make India among its top five investment priorities.
An industry analyst said looking at the current scenario in the Indian OTC healthcare market, it is unlikely in the near term that the company would invest in pushing an inorganic growth in India.
Abhijit Sanyal, chief executive officer, Boots Piramal, was not available for comments as he was travelling.
Boots Healthcare had earlier planned to roll out a new range of products from its global portfolio under the Clearasil range in India. Clearasil is a 50-year-old skin care brand and is one of the leading global brands in acne prevention.
