ICICI [Get Quote] venture firm, RFCL Ltd, today said it will acquire Chennai-based veterinary healthcare firm Alved Pharma and Foods Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount.

RFCL has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire Alved Pharma, which would see transfer of all key people, assets, all contracts including exports and the brand name, the ICICI Venture firm said in a statement.

"Alved is a market leader in South India with significant export business to Middle East and Africa and is expecting to close FY08 with Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million) sales revenue," RFCL said. The company said that this acquisition complements the animal healthcare business of Vetnex, the veterinary wing of RFCL, in terms of product profile and distribution network.

"We see significant upsides arising out of the synergies between Vetnex and Alved, which will augment the projected growth at a CAGR of 20% plus for the next 4-5 years for a consolidated animal healthcare business," said Sushil Mehta, Managing Director, RFCL Ltd.

RFCL expects the animal healthcare business of Vetnex to close at Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million) for FY08, with a growth of 22% over FY07. "Combined with sales revenue of Alved, RFCL's veterinary product portfolio will be in excess of Rs 105 crore (Rs 1.05 billion) and would be a clear 'No 3' in the animal health industry," it said.

Last year, RFCL had acquired Wipro [Get Quote] Biomed and Godrej [Get Quote] Medical Diagnostics. "RFCL will keep pursuing this strategy of strong inorganic and organic growth initiatives to keep increasing its base and geographical presence, across all its business domains in an attempt to build a reputed global life sciences and laboratory solutions company," clarified Aluri Srinivasa Rao, ICICI Venture Director (Investments) and RFCL Chairman.