India's Piramal to Invest $1.5B in Overseas Pharma Business

India's Piramal plans to invest at least $1.5 billion in biotech acquisitions and Big Pharma joint ventures to expand its overseas business.

India's Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal plans to grow his company's life sciences business by investing at least $1.5 billion in biotech acquisitions and Big Pharma joint ventures.

Piramal said he's mainly interested in expanding in the U.S. and Europe, where he's already been in talks with some major companies, the Financial Times reports. The first major deal should be announced within 6 to 12 months, he said, refusing to identify any of the drugmakers involved.

"We are looking to invest $1.5 billion in biotech companies that don't have enough money to expand," Piramal said.