Alok Saxena, director, international, Elder Pharma, told CNBC-TV 18 in an exclusive interview, shared by the channel with domain-b, that it would not be making an open offer, but plans to take warrants and make the investment directly.

He sees the acquisition as an entry point into the regulated market.

Confirm for us this particular news - is it 20-per cent stake and how much have you paid for it? Has the payment already been made?
Yes, we have put in an offer to buy 20 per cent in Neutra Health Plc, which is a company listed on the AIM stock exchange. For the 20 per cent we will be putting in Rs47 crore but the payment has not been made. It is subject to clearance from the EGM, which will take about 21 days from now. But they have accepted our offer and we hope everything will go forward as planned.

What do you stand to gain out of this?
Neutra Health is one of the large companies in the UK specialising in nutraceutical products and this is one of the main areas where Elder is quite strong. We are amongst the top three companies in India in the nutraceutical market.

So, this will be a very strategic thing for both of us because we could backend our products and their products together could be marketed in the Indian market and our products could be marketed by them in the UK market. This would be an entry point for us into the regulated markets.

Give us more details on the market cap and pricing of this company, which is listed on the AIM? Would you have to make an open offer for it right now?
No, we won''t be making an open offer for it. This company is listed on the AIM stock exchange. We plan to take warrants from the company and then, we will be making an investment directly into the company.

What is the price that this company is trading at, on the AIM and is its market cap?
It is around £16.18 million and is trading at around 11 and-a-half pence right now.

Would you be looking at hiking this 20-per cent stake in the future… at taking a controlling stake of the company? Is it a step-wise move in that direction?
Yes absolutely, as we go forward we would we see how the synergies coming in, how the companies can interact together. This company is very well managed and has a very professional board and looking forward we could look at the possibility of increasing our stake. At this moment nothing is yet decided.

Could you throw more light on the financials of the company, the EBITDA margin it has and the kind of profitability it enjoys?
The company currently has a turnover of about £23 million and at the moment I cannot share the EBITDA margins because they have not announced their latest results, which they will do later today.