Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest pharmaceutical company, announced on Monday that all the necessary formalities and consents required for the conclusion of the acquisition transaction of RPG (Aventis) SA have been obtained and that the acquisition is now complete.

With this, Ranbaxy is now the fifth largest generics supplier in France.

RPG (Aventis) SA, France, has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy.

The company will continue to retain the name RPG, to leverage its strong brand equity and visibility in the French generics market.

Ranbaxy will invest additional resources on the ground and will further strengthen and grow this business in the French market.

On December 13, Ranbaxy had announced the signing of an agreement to buy RPG (Aventis) SA in France, subject to requisite approvals.

RPG (Aventis) was ranked fifth in the French generics market with sales of euro 52 million and a market share of over 6 per cent.

France is the fourth largest pharmaceutical market globally with sales of $19.2 billion, growing at 4 per cent annually and constituting 4.8 per cent of the world pharmaceutical market.

The genericss market in France is about euro 652 million and is the 5th largest after the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. The market has an excellent growth potential.

Commenting on the completion of the acquisition transactions, Brian W Tempest, joint managing director and CEO-designate, Ranbaxy, said: "This completes a further step in the expansion plans we have for Ranbaxy in Europe."