Wockhardt Hires ICICI To Arrange Loan To Buy France''s Negma

Wockhardt Ltd., an Indian drugmaker that makes copies of Amgen Inc.''s Epogen for anemia, hired ICICI Bank Ltd. to arrange a loan of 110 million euros ($150 million) to pay for the acquisition of France''s Negma Group. The seven-year loan has an interest margin of 175 basis points more than the Euro Libor or London interbank offered rate, ICICI Bank said in a release yesterday. The three-month Euro Libor rate was fixed at 4.2 percent yesterday. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Mumbai-based Wockhardt is expanding overseas as increased local competition and government price controls weigh on earnings. Negma is Wockhardt''s fifth acquisition in Europe and the largest at $265 million, according to the company''s May 16 statement. Wockhardt reported a profit of 663 million rupees ($16.4 million) in its first quarter, turning from a loss of 37 million rupees a year earlier. The Indian government controls prices of 74 bulk drugs, or active ingredients, and their finished products, to make them affordable in a country where about 35 percent of the population of more than 1.1 billion earns less than $1 a day.