GSK lifts emerging market bet with full control of Indonesia arm

GlaxoSmithKline is betting more on Indonesia by taking full control of its consumer healthcare unit in the country, underscoring a drive by the drugmaker to build up its presence in fast-growing emerging markets. GSK has paid 465 billion rupiahs ($40 million) to Sarasvati Venture Capital for the 30 percent of the Indonesian consumer healthcare operation it did not previously own, giving it 100 percent of a business that sells non-prescription products like Panadol painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste. At the same time, GSK has sold its non-core local Insto eye drops brand to Pharma Healthcare and agreed to divest its factory at Bogor, Indonesia, to PT Pharma Healthcare for a combined total of 133 billion rupiahs. "This transaction is a further example of GSK focusing its business in strategically important growth markets such as Indonesia.