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By Sumeet Chatterjee

BANGALORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - India's top biotechnology firm, Biocon Ltd <BION.BO>, is looking at overseas acquisitions for about $10 million to boost its sales globally and gain access to innovative drugs, its chairman said on Wednesday.

Biocon, which makes insulin, cholesterol-lowering statins and other branded drugs, had earlier this month agreed to buy 70 percent of German marketing firm AxiCorp GmbH for 30 million euros ($45 million) to boost distribution and marketing of pharmaceuticals in Europe.

"I am looking at smaller companies where even if I have to invest and get a majority or controlling stake it won't cost me more than $10 million or thereabouts," Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told Reuters in an interview.

The targets are marketing firms in Europe and research-focused biotechnology companies in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, she said.

Last month, Biocon said its quarterly profit rose more than five times after one-off gains from sale of its enzymes unit to Denmark's Novozymes <NZYMb.CO>, and forecast more growth despite recession concerns in its key U.S. market.

Bangalore-based Biocon has been looking to acquire firms to boost its marketing and drug discovery muscles, after it sold off its enzymes business in July last year for $115 million.

"For Europe, it's a totally marketing strategy that we are looking at," said Mazumdar-Shaw, who set up Biocon in her garage in Bangalore in 1978. "At the same time we are also looking at acquisition opportunities in say innovation."

She said a plan to launch an initial public offer of its contract research unit, Syngene, was on track by the end of the fiscal year that begins in April. The company has not yet finalised details of the offer.

A 12 percent drop in the stock market this year, caused by a global equities rout, knocked out a few IPOs in the Indian market in recent weeks, including a $1.6 billion issue from Emaar MGF Land, the Indian unit of Dubai's Emaar Properties <EMAR.DU>.

ORAL INSULIN

Clinical trials for Biocon's innovative oral insulin is making good progress and the company should be able to sign a licensing deal to launch the product in global markets early next year, Mazumdar-Shaw said.

Brokerage ICICI Securities said in a Feb. 19 research report that Biocon might generate "windfall revenue" through the licensing of oral insulin. It has assumed the deal size to be between $100 million and $300 million.

"We believe we are actually in a very good position because you can see that number of recent diabetic drugs have had safety concerns associated with them," the Biocon chief said.

"That's why we believe an oral insulin could have a very, very interesting opportunity in managing diabetes very effectively with no safety concerns."

Biocon sees prices of statins, which contributes a quarter of its revenue, stabilising on waning competition. The United States and Europe are its main markets for the statins used to lower cholesterol levels.

Investment on research and development activities in the year to March 2009 will be 15-20 percent higher than this year's spending of over 1 billion rupees, said Mazumdar-Shaw, who earned a master's brewing degree in Australia before pioneering Biocon.

Shares in Biocon, which has a market value of more than $1 billion, ended 0.3 percent higher at 441.05 rupees on Wednesday in a Mumbai market <.BSESN> that edged up 0.1 percent. The stock is down about 24 percent so far this year. ($1=.6706 Euro) ($1= 39.8 Rupees) (Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan) (([email protected]; +91-80-3982 7450; Reuters Messaging: [email protected])) Keywords: BIOCON INDIA/