Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine manufacturer in India, made its first global acquisition and bought out 100% of Bilthoven Biologicals, a Dutch government-owned loss-making vaccine company, for R550 crore. Serum, a zero-debt, low-cost, profit-making vaccine company, also wanted to buy Shanta Biotechnics, but lost out to Sanofi. This new business was acquired to get into injectable polio vaccine (IPV) and is expected to add R100 crore to Serum?s bottomline. Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recently visited Serum Institute and called its founder, Cyrus Poonawalla, one of the seven vaccine heroes in the world. The foundation has plans to work with the company for developing IPV. Serum Institute will look at more acquisitions going forward, Adar Cyrus Poonawalla, ED, Poonawalla Group and ED, Serum Institute, told FE?s Geeta Nair in an interaction. Edited excerpts:

Why did Serum Institute buy the company?

Serum Institute has bought the company for two reasons ? to get access to IPV, and due to us wanting a base in Europe, where we can make products and send products from India and sell with European labels.

How did you edge out others for bagging the deal?

We did not edge other players out. Most of the other players were looking at it only from the perspective of a polio company. Other players backed out since it was making 34 million euro standalone loss every year. We looked at it with a long-term perspective of doing other things that I mentioned.

How will this acquisition help Serum?s topline and bottomline?

For the first three years it will be making losses. After that we hope to make profits. Serum?s bottomline will hardly get affected by R100 crore a year. It will after three years and, hopefully, by then it will add R100 crore to Serum?s bottomline.

This was a loss making unit of the Netherlands government. What were the losses? How will you turnaround the fortunes of the company and how much time would it take to turn it profitable?

It will take three years for the turnaround. We will make the company work more efficiently, add investments for capacities and aggressively market IPV in countries that are willing to take it. At the moment we are targeting 50 countries that buy IPV.

Will having a base in a high-cost country help Serum, especially when Serum has the distinction of making vaccines at one of the lowest price points compared to global companies?

Whatever is made from the European company will be at a higher price, but will also be sold at a higher price in the European markets. Therefore, Serum?s low-cost manufacturing ability will have no bearing on this.

Is there any significant intellectual property rights (IPR) you get with this plant? How does it complement Serum? Will the new company be a platform to expand into the regulated markets?

The main IPR is IPV and we are examining the rest.

The Poonawalla Group is a debt-free, cash-rich company. Would you be on the look out for more such buys?

Yes, certainly. We will look at other acquisitions if they compliment our product lines. There are very few players in the vaccine field. Consolidation in this industry does not happen very often, even globally speaking, as perhaps there may be only five-six major players.

What is Serum?s vision and goal for the future? Where do you see the company in the next five to 10 years?

Today Serum is present in 130 countries. My vision and hope is that after five years we will be selling in Europe and the US, which we are not doing today and, hopefully, also launch a new basket of vaccines such as Pneumococcal, Rotavirus and HPV, among others.