Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Granules India received an approval from its shareholders for the planned acquisition of Auctus Pharma. Auctus is a known manufacturer of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), which are critical ingredients for developing pharmaceutical drug or biologically-active pesticide. Granules received the approval at a special general meeting that was held on Friday, the drugmaker disclosed in a latest filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The shareholders of Granules also approved the increase in the borrowing power limit of its Board of Directors to INR750 crore.

Despite both companies not disclosing the financial details of the merger, the latest filing with the Bombay bourse indicated that the amount of the acquisition deal stood at INR102 crore.

A press release from Granules said the acquisition process is expected to be finalized in the next three months to half a year.

Granules India Managing Director Krishna Prasad said in an earlier statement regarding the company's latest acquisition, "Auctus provides Granules with an API platform having the US FDA approved site to strengthen its finished dosage division."

Granules India Executive Director Harsha Chigurupati also added, "The acquisition is one part of our three-prong growth strategy. In addition, our team is eagerly awaiting the commercializatoin of our third growth driver, Granules OmniChem, a collaboration with Ajinomoto OmniChem, a premier CRAMs manufacturer."

Auctus currently has two manufacturing sites, which are an intermediate facility based in Hyderabad and an API facility at Visakhapatnam's Pharmacity. Granules' press release also said that Auctus' API facility has secured approvals from top regulators including the US Food and Drug Administration, European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (EDQM), Health Canada, Korea Food and Drug Administration and WHO-Good Manufacturing Practices.

At the time of Granules' announcement of its acquisition proposal last month, the drugmaker also revealed its plans to set up a thousand square foot-Research & Development facility located also in Hyderabad. The facility's purpose, said The New Indian Express, was to help scale Granules' generic API development aside from supplementing the company's other R&D facility in Pune.