CNBC-TV18 says that Wockhardt is close to acquiring the Irish generic company Pinewood Laboratories, in a deal which is expected to be worth over $100 million. However, the company's officials are declining to comment on speculations.

CNBC-TV18 reports that the acquisition will strengthen the company's presence in Europe. As of now, it gets 54 per cent of its revenue from Europe.

The sources say that besides it, Teva, Barr, and Actavis were also in race to buy Pinewood. The deal, which is expected to be announced next week, will break a jinx of sorts for Wockhardt.

For the last two years, Wockhardt has been making futile attempts to acquire companies. It had bid for acquisitions like Terapia, Betapharm, but ultimately lost out. The last acquisition that it had made was in 2004, when it acquired a company in Germany. While Wockhardt was not mentioned among the original suitors, its offer for Pinewood surpassed all others in a final round of bids last week.

Pinewood is a leading, fast-growth branded generic company and manufactures liquids, creams / ointments and powders under its own licenses in Ireland, which are distributed to its international markets directly from its facility located in Tipperary. The company markets and distributes branded generics throughout Ireland and supplies a wide range of services and pharmaceuticals to hospitals in Dublin. It also undertakes contract manufacturing for the international market.

Pinewood's internationally audited manufacturing facilities in Tipperary have been designed and purpose built to GMP, ISO 9001 and EN 46001 (CE mark) standards. The 9,626 m2 plant has capacity for over 11,000 tons of bulk products annually and over 51-million finished packs of product per year. Pinewood has been awarded several accreditations over the years including the Millennium Export Excellence.

Its product ranges include antibiotic, cardiovascular, analgesic, dermatological, opioid, gastrointestinal, CNS, rheumatology, hormonal, urological, dietetic, respiratory and allergy products.

In June 2005, the company reported pretax profits of €5.56 million on sales of €46.19 million. The profits accumulated by the business stood at more than €21 million last year.

Michael Costello established Pinewood Laboratories in Ballymacarbry, near Clonmel in Co Tipperary, in 1976. Costello (65) entered talks last week to sell Pinewood to Mumbai-based Wockhardt Ltd and a deal is expected to be announced shortly.

As managing director of the business and its controlling shareholder, Costello will be the main beneficiary of a sale. Members of his company's board and its management team will benefit to a smaller extent.

Enterprise Ireland, the state body that promotes indigenous industry, will also benefit, thanks to its minority stake in Pinewood.The company has been on the market for several months and it is said to have attracted considerable interest from international drug companies.