Hikal Ltd, the preferred long-term outsourcing partner for leading global life sciences companies, today announced that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, has agreed to invest US$ 15 million in Hikal by way of equity participation. This investment will be used for the expansion plans of Hikal.

The equity will be offered to IFC by way of preferential share allotment which was approved at the meeting of Company’s Board of Directors held on July 3, 2008.

Mr. Jai Hiremath, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Hikal Ltd., said, “The IFC investment clearly demonstrates the strength and potential of Hikal. Building long term strategic partnerships is the fundamental basis on which Hikal operates and we welcome IFC’s financial support as part of our growth strategy. The significant capital inflows will be used for capacity expansion across our manufacturing and R&D facilities.”

The expansions will be carried out at Hikal’s existing sites at Jigani (near Bangalore), Panoli (Gujarat) and Taloja (near Mumbai).

Earlier this week, Hikal announced the inauguration of a new Multipurpose Agrochemical plant at Taloja for supply of Active Ingredients for Crop Protection Products to Bayer CropScience AG.

Hikal also announced a final dividend of 70% for the year ended March 2008 (previous year 65%) subject to approval of the shareholders. This includes the interim dividend of 30% that was paid in February 2008 (previous year 30%). The Board of Directors has also approved the audited accounts for the financial year ended 31st March 2008.

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About Hikal:

Hikal is a reliable long-term outsourcing partner to companies in the Pharmaceuticals, Crop Protection Products, and Specialty Chemicals industry. The company has been supplying key active ingredients (AI) and intermediates, manufactured using stringent global quality standards, for it’s customers in the United States, Europe and Japan. Hikal’s advanced manufacturing facilities have been inspected and approved by leading global players in Crop protection and Pharmaceutical sectors. The crop protection facilities are located at Taloja and Mahad (Maharashtra). Hikal’s manufacturing activities are supported by state-of-the-art research centers and pilot plant facilities located at Bangalore and Taloja respectively. The API and pharmaceutical intermediates manufacturing facilities are situated in Jigani (Bangalore) and Panoli (Gujarat) respectively.