Telangana Chief Minister, Chandrasekhar Rao recently inaugurated Cogent Glass Ltd, a pharmaceutical glass manufacturing plant, at Vemula village in Mahabubnagar district. The Rs200-crore facility, promoted by directors of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd was acquired in 2013 by Oaktree Capital Management, a US-based investment firm managing over US$ 80BN in assets and with several investments in the packaging sector. The investment is stated to have provided Oaktree an entry into the fast growing Indian market for pharmaceutical packaging. Oaktree had also invested in French-based SGD, a leading manufacturer of glass for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. SGD had earlier signed a cooperation agreement with Cogent that provides for technology sharing as well as marketing and management support. Cogent will exclusively cater to the pharmaceutical sector. The new manufacturing facility has a production capacity of 1 million pieces per day for moulded vials and half a million pieces for tubular containers.
