MUMBAI: Ajay Piramal, the billionaire who had sold his drug formulation company to Abbott Pharma for Rs 17,000 crore about seven years ago, on Monday said his critical care company in the UK will acquire specialty products of US drug maker Mallinkrodt for $170 million in an all-cash deal.The transaction makes it Piramal Enterprises ’ seventh acquisition in the pharma space in the last two years and pegs its pharma business at Rs 4,400 crore, according to an estimate. The acquired portfolios include Gablofen , a severe spasticity management product marketed in the US besides being approved in eight European countries, and two pain management products that are under development.Gablofen raked in $44 million in sales in September 2016.“Since we sold our pharma business to Abbott, we have continued to be in pharmabusiness, what we did was rebuild our pharma business, our growth has been around 17% in the last five years”, said Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Enterprises.Piramal said the acquisition will lead to significant growth in margins. The group has, so far, invested Rs 3,000 crore in building its pharma portfolio.“We, as a pharma company, have been growing organically at 17%. If you add the acquisition that would be around 23% CAGR… we are moving up the value chain” Piramal said.The group’s new strategy towards its pharma business will be to look at complex and difficult to manufacture products which are not mere generics. The various products in the segments, such as anesthesia or injectables that the company has acquired have been on those lines.The group has also been tightening its presence in the over-the-counter products in the last couple of years. Last year the company acquired four brands from US drug maker Pfizer for Rs 110 crore, besides going after products of MSD Pharmaceuticals in the pain relief category and the brand Little, which sells various baby accessories across India.Piramal said going forward, the three businesses of pharmaceuticals, financial services and information data management will continue to be drivers for the group.“We will continue to invest in each of this segment,” he said.