Abbott Laboratories will buy Piramal Healthcare’s branded generic-medicine unit in India for $3.72 billion (€2.9bn), making it the country’s biggest drug-maker and tapping into a market expected to double by 2015.

Abbott said it would pay $2.12 billion upfront and $400 million annually for four years from 2011 for the unit, which sells retail-ready pharmaceuticals in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The deal will give Abbott a 7 per cent stake in the Indian pharmaceutical market. – (Bloomberg)