Luxembourg-based Yamma Investments agreed to buy a 30% stake in Turkish generic drug maker Sanovel for $200 million, the target company's parent Toksöz Group said in a statement yesterday.

The sale of the minority stake would allow spending on research and development of new products and investments for exports, Toksöz said.

In November, Reuters reported that foreign firms including Metric Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street bank, were in talks to buy a minority stake in Sanovel.

Yamma Investments is led by London-based Metric and its local partner Afendis Capital Partners, Toksöz said on Tuesday.

Sanovel produces some 300 million individual boxes of medicine annually, according to its website. It operates in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iraq and other countries in the region, and in recent years began exporting to Spain and Italy.

The company is among the top 20 that produces medicine in line with international standards in Turkey, according to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Turkey.