Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Limited
Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Limited is a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Uganda. According to a 2007 published report, it was the only company in Africa that manufactured triple-combination antiretroviral drugs. CiplaQCIL also manufactures the antimalarial drug Lumartem, containing artemisinin and lumefantrine, and the Hepatitis B generic medicines Texavir and Zentair.
Location
CiplaQCIL's pharmaceutical manufacturing plant is located in Luzira, a neighborhood in Nakawa Division in south-eastern Kampala. The plant is approximately, by road, south-east of Kampala's central business district. The coordinates of the plant are 0°18'17.0"N, 32°38'22.0"E.Overview
As of March 2019, the company's total assets were valued at USh287.561 billion, with shareholders' equity of USh168.310 billion.History
In 2004, Quality Chemicals Limited convinced Indian drug maker Cipla to go into a joint venture with QCL and the government of Uganda to establish a pharmaceutical plant in Uganda. Ground was broken in 2005 and the factory was commissioned in 2007, with capacity of 6 million pills daily.In 2009, TLG Capital, a London-based private equity company, invested an undisclosed amount of money in the plant. Later, CapitalWorks Investment Partners, a private equity firm based in South Africa, also became a shareholder in the plant. In February 2010, the government of Uganda divested from the plant by selling its shares "at cost" to CiplaQCIL. The transaction was valued at US$5 million.
In February 2011, the owners of the plant announced a US$40 million expansion of the production line to include increased production of antiretroviral and antimalarial medication. In April 2012, British media reported that CiplaQCIL was in the process of expanding its manufacturing capacity fourfold. The plant had received approval of its processes and products from the World Health Organization. The products were expected to be initially marketed in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
According to a 2012 published report, a second plant is being planned to be built next to the first plant, which would raise CiplaQCIL's manufacturing capacity to 18 million pills daily.
As of April 2016, the company's products were marketed in Cameroon, Comoros, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
In February 2020, the factory passed the first of three stages, in qualification to supply medication to South Africa. At that time, the following countries were accepting shipments from the factory: Tanzania Namibia Sierra Leone Angola Mozambique Zambia Rwanda and Myanmar. In March 2020 the company shipped 300,000 ARV does to South Africa. This was followed by another 150,000 doses in April 2020, to be followed by 150,000 doses every month thereafter. Rwanda, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Zambia are receiving regular shipments from CQCIL.
CQCIL began shipment of antiretroviral drugs to Botswana in June 2020. During the second quarter of 2020, pharmaceutical sales totaled US$10million. Of that Uganda accounted for US$1 million and Botswana purchased drugs worth US$4 million. Other African countries bought the remaining US$5 million, worth of pharmaceuticals during the quarter.
Ownership of pharmaceutical plant
, the shareholding in the pharmaceutical plant was as depicted in the table below: In 2017, the company began to implement plans to list some of its shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange. After the listing it is expected that the shareholding in the company stock will be as reflected in the table below.| Rank | Name of Owner | % Ownership Pre-IPO | % Ownership Post-IPO |
| 1 | Meditab Holdings Limited | 51.05 | 51.05 |
| 2 | Cipla European Union | 11.25 | 0.00 |
| 3 | CapitalWorks Investment Partners | 14.40 | 11.11 |
| 4 | TLG Capital | 12.50 | 11.50 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Katongole | 3.60 | 2.78 |
| 5 | Frederick Mutebi Kitaka | 3.60 | 2.78 |
| 6 | George Baguma | 3.60 | 2.78 |
| 7 | Other investors via USE | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| Total | 100.00 | 100.00 |
- Cipla also owns 51 percent of Quality Chemicals Limited.
- Up until May 2015 Quality Chemicals Limited owned 22.05 percent of CiplaQCIL. Sometime after that, Quality Chemicals sold their entire shareholding; 10.8 percent to three of the individual founders and the remaining 11.25 percent to Cipla European Union, thus raising Cipla's shareholding to the pre-IPO level of 62.3 percent.
Governance