Dr. Reddy's plans $36 mln purchase of Dutch OctoPlus

A pharmacist gives free medicine provided by the government, to a patient inside a government hospital in Kolkata July 3, 2012.

REUTERS - India's No 2 drugmaker by sales, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories(REDY.NS), said it plans to buy Dutch drug firm OctoPlusOCTO.AS for 27.39 million euros as it looks to expand its research and development.

The offer price is 30 percent higher to the market capitalisation of OctoPlus as on October 19, Dr. Reddy's said in a statement on Monday.

The Indian firm holds an irrevocable commitment from shareholders having more than 50 percent of total issued shares of OctoPlus, it said.

OctoPlus develops injectable dosages and provides various other clinical services. It clocked a net loss of 6.32 million euros for the year ended December 2011 on consolidated total income of 7.7 million euros, according Thomson Reuters' data.

"As we globalise our R&D efforts, we are looking forward to build a research base in Leiden (Netherlands)," G.V. Prasad, chief executive of Dr. Reddy's, said. "The acquisition helps us ramp up our technology capabilities in drug delivery."

Dr. Reddy's intends to make an open offer to buy out all the shares in OctoPlus and expects to conclude the deal during the current fiscal year ending March 2013, it said.

Valued at $5.4 billion, shares in Dr. Reddy's were up 0.85 percent at 1,719 rupees by 0418 GMT in a Mumbai market .BSESN that was down 0.12 percent on Monday.

(Reporting by Kaustubh Kulkarni in MUMBAI; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)