Sun Pharma to acquire Pola Pharma

Sun Pharma will acquire Japan based Polo Pharma for around $1 Million to strengthen its presence in dermatology segment across the globe. The company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pola Pharma, which is engaged in research and development, manufacture, sale and distribution of branded and generic products in Japan.

Pola Pharma portfolio mainly comprises dermatology products. It has two manufacturing facilities in Saitama with capabilities to manufacture topical products and injectables. It also has R&D capabilities to develop new technologies and formulations. Pola Pharma is a leading dermatology company and it will help Sun Pharma launch our specialty and generic dermatology products in the Japanese market in future.

Sun Pharma forayed into the Japanese prescription market in 2016, with the acquisition of 14 established prescription brands from Novartis. The size of the Japanese pharmaceutical market is estimated at $84.8 billion, accounting for around 7.5% of the $1.13-trillion global pharmaceutical market.

Nippon Life to buy Mitsui Life

Nippon Life Insurance Co., Japan’s biggest life insurer by assets plans to acquire Mitsui Life Insurance Co. Nippon Life plans to offer 300 Billion yen to 400 Billion yen for at least an 80% stake in Mitsui Life.

Buying Mitsui Life would contrast with a wave of multibillion dollar takeovers abroad by Japanese insurers as the country aging population limits growth prospects at home. Nippon Life plans to spend as much as 500 Billion yen on acquisitions including overseas insurers and asset managers.

Osaka based Nippon Life has been taking minority stakes in companies such as AIA Group Ltd, in Hong Kong, Post Advisory Group in the US, Indonesia Sequis Life and Reliance Group in India. Purchasing the company would help Nippon Life vie with Dai-ichi Life as Japan’s largest earner of insurance premium income. Nippon life got 5.37 Trillion yen from premiums in the year ended March, and Mitsui Life had 545 Billion yen.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. agreed this month to purchase Symetra Financial Corp for about $3.8 Billion. Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. agreed in June to acquire HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. for about $7.5 Billion and Dai-ichi Life struck a deal last year to buy protective Life Corp. for more than $5 Billion.

GroupM in talks to acquire Foxymoron

GroupM is the world largest advertising media company in terms of billing. It was formed in 2003 by WPP Group to serve as the parent company of WPP media agencies including Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Vocanic. It handles over 32% of the world media billings making it the world largest media investment management operation. Foxymoron was started in 2008 as a summer project between four friends and turned into a digital media and marketing company.

Global media firm GroupM is in talks to acquire Foxymoron for about $30 Million, as it seeks to establish dominant position in India. If the deal becomes successful then it will be the latest buyout transaction in the nascent, but fast growing Indian Digital, social media, and marketing sector. Global Media giant JWT is also scouting for potential acquisitions in the space.

Foxymoron provides an across the board range of services, including, end to end digital services, including design and development and social media services. The potential transaction is part of GroupM strategy to establish an even stronger footprint in the country, where it already has a dominant presence. India’s online advertising market is poised to exceed Rs 3500 crore in revenue in 2015.

Spend on video ads will grow at a compounded annual rate of 56% while contributing 12% to the overall market share of digital advertisements. The principal sources of acceleration in 2015 are China, where GroupM predicts ad growth will get back on track to just fewer than 10%, the US, forecast to pick up to 3.9, the Brazil, the UK, Japan and India. Acquisitions have been an important growth strategy for GroupM, which also acquired Chinese Social media agency Teein last year.

Dentsu Aegis acquires WATConsult

Dentsu Inc. is an International advertising and public relations company whose headquarters are located in the Dentsu Building in the Shiodome district of Minato, Tokyo. The Company origins as a media representative producing the first newspaper advertisements and the first television commercials in Japan. The company now offers a range of services, from traditional and creative marketing to specialty disciplines such as sports marketing, digital contents, PR, and a growing range of communication services.

Dentsu reached an agreement with the principal shareholder of Mumbai based WATConsult, a digital agency, to acquire a 90% stake in the company, which will ultimately be increased in steps to 100%. WATConsult will become part of Isobar, one of the Dentsu Group’s global network brands, and will be referred to as WATConsult linked by Isobar.

WATConsult, founded in 2007 as a Social Media agency, has developed into a digital agency offering services such as digital creative, digital media planning and buying, development of campaigns that utilize social and digital media, production of digital media applications and digital video, and online reputation management. Its clients include Godrej, Tata, Bajaj, Mahindra, SAP, and Nikon. WATConsult employs more than 160 people across the Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata and has annual revenue of nearly Rs. 30 Crore.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Dentsu Inc, the Dentsu India Group comprises three standalone full service-advertising agencies – Dentsu Communications, Dentsu Marcom, and Dentsu Creative Impact as well as Dentsu Media and Dentsu Digital. Tokyo based Dentsu Inc has a presence in 24 countries across five continents. In 2012, it acquired 51 percent stake in Mumbai based advertising agency Taproot India Communication Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

Hike Messenger acquires Zip Phone

Hike, the instant messaging (IM) app service from BSB (Bharti Softbank, a joint venture between Bharti Group and Japan’s Softbank), has acquired free voice calling app Zip phone from US based Thought Mechanics Inc for an undisclosed sum. This would also compete with Bharti Airtel own core mobile service. Hike is also competing with SMS service provided by Airtel among other cellular service providers. The venture, however, adds data service earnings to all mobile operators.

The move is expected to expand Hike’s product range in the Internet based communication space. This is the first acquisition by Hike, and is aimed at expanding its products range in the Internet based communication space. Launched by Anuj Jain, Zip Phone is a voice-calling app that can automatically detect one’s contacts, and intelligently routes the call through the Wi-Fi.

Founded by in July 2012 by Kavin Bharti, Hike is a peer-to-peer (P2P) messaging app that uses both data and SMS to deliver messages. Hike is one of the leading mobile apps based out of India with around 35 Million users. Close to 90 percent of its users are Indians aged below 25 years. One of the key features of Hike is that those who do not have Hike on their phones can still receive an Instant message as SMS. One can also respond to it but have to pay normal SMS charges for that.

 Hike is competing with a slew of IM apps that include Whatsapp, which claims to have around 70 Million users in India, besides Facebook Messenger, Viber, Google Talk, and Kakao talk from South Korea, Taiwan Cubie, and LoveByte from Singapore, China WeChat, Japan Line, and Nimbuzz in India. Smartphone makers have their own apps too, such as BlackBerry Ltd Messenger, Apple Inc iMessage, and Samsung Electronics ChatOn. Last September, Hike had secured $65 Million (Rs 400 cr) in funding from a group of overseas investors led by Tiger Global Management. 

Japan's Uniqlo enters India

Uniqlo is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer, and retailer. The company is a fast retailing chain of Japan. Uniqlo operates in Australia, China, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, UK, USA, and some other countries of the world. It was founded in 1949 and in 1985 company opened their first casual wear store.

After BJP government in country, Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo met new PM Narendra Modi and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. Just after a night, the Japanese retail giant has revealed plans to open up to 1000 stores in India in coming ten years. This would be the largest number of stores by them in any country after China, where the number of stores is 793.

It is not clear if Uniqlo will tie in a partner for its single brand retail foray or operate through a wholly owned subsidiary in the country. India enjoys advantages in garment sector including availability of cotton, skilled workforce, robust infrastructure, and good ports for exports. Uniqlo will source garments from India for exporting to other countries. Company is already in talks with Apparel Export Promotion Council to identify 10 suitable garment company exporters with the right scale. It will add value to company and country growth. India allows clothing retailers to open stores in India if they source at least 30% of their products in the country.

Company would target annual group sales of 5 trillion yen and profit from operations of 1 trillion yen by 2020. Company aims to become the largest manufacturer of Apparel by 2020 with a growth of 20% per year. The company’s International business target breaks down as one trillion yen in China, one trillion in other Asian countries, one trillion in Europe and one trillion in United States.