Shares in Sun Pharma rallied after the company said that it has entered into an agreement to acquire US based eyecare firm InSite Vision.

The shares of the firm were last trading at Rs 886, up 2.2 per cent over Tuesday's close. The company said that it would acquire InSite Vision for around USD 48 million plus related debt and other transaction costs to strengthen its branded ophthalmic portfolio in the US.

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"The indirect wholly-owned arm of Sun Pharma will commence a tender offer for all the issued and outstanding common stocks of InSite Vision at USD 0.35 per share in cash, a 30 per cent premium to the implied price," Sun Pharma said.

Sun Pharma North American Business CEO Kal Sundaram said: "This potential acquisition is part of our overall objective of transitioning to a specialty company. Besides dermatology, we have identified ophthalmics as one of the key segments for establishing our branded presence in the US."

The deal gives Sun Pharma access to four late stage branded ophthalmic products in the US.

For the 6-month period ended June, InSite Vision recorded revenues of USD 3.8 million, an EBITDA loss of USD 6.4 million and a net loss of USD 7.5 million, it added.

"The potential addition of the InSite Vision portfolio serves as a significant step towards enhancing our branded specialty pipeline in the ophthalmic segment," Vice-President & Head of Sun Pharma's US Ophthalmic Business Jerry St Peter said.

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