United Arab Emirates-based Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) plans to raise 440 million dirhams ($120 million) by selling shares to existing investors over three years, a report said.

The shares will be sold in three tranches at 1.75 dirhams each, the Emirates Business quoted Chief Executive Officer Abdul Razzak Yousuf as saying in an interview. Shares of Julphar, closed on Tuesday at 2.65 dirhams.

Some of the cash will be invested in expansion and the rest used to buy patents and other assets to help Julphar compete with foreign pharmaceutical companies, Yousuf said, according to the paper.

Julphar said last month it would build a chain of drug stores across the Middle East and North Africa with Global Investment House, Kuwait's largest investment bank.

Julphar also said it was planning to invest 1.23 billion dirhams over three years to push into Asian and Middle Eastern markets and set up an insulin plant in the UAE's Ras al-Khaimah emirate, where it is based.

The company made a net profit on 207 million dirhams in 2007 on sales of 661 million dirhams, Emirates Business said. Sales grew 14.1 percent, it said. The company reported a 2006 profit of 66.7 million dirhams. - Reuters