Intas Biopharma, too, looks at fund raising options
As the market is abuzz with news of ChrysCapital Investment Advisors, a fund that has around 11.5 per cent stake in Ahmedabad-based mid-sized pharma player Intas Pharma, looking at making an exit, the company may take initial public offering (IPO) route to raise funds.
Besides, Intas Pharma group company Intas Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (IBPL) is also looking at raising funds through the private equity (PE). "Tata Capital is eyeing a minority stake close to 2 per cent in the company and it has suggested to nominate a member on the board of directors of IBPL," confirmed Jayesh Shah, chief financial officer of Intas Pharma.
Shah avioded replying directly to the question of ChrysCapital's potential exit from Intas Pharma saying that it depended on fund closure and added that the company was not in talks with any other PE firm to offload the stake of ChrysCapital, which had invested close to $11.49 million in Intas Pharma in 2005-06. ChrysCapital had bought the stake from ICICI Venture.
Intas Pharma has posted a net sales of around Rs 1500 crore in the fiscal 2009-10. Shah said, "Intas Pharma is thinking of going for an IPO. The timing and valuation is not yet decided". The company had made plans around two years back to come up with an IPO by diluting 10 per cent stake for around Rs 200 crore. But, according to sources close to the development, it dropped the plans owing to volatile market conditions at that time, but could come up with an IPO in around the next six to eight months time.
Sources also claimed that recently there has been a reshuffle in the board of Intas Biopharma, with two members on the board of Intas Pharma have been inculcated into the board of Intas Biopharma, together with one nominated member from Tata Capital. The company, however, declined to confirm the development. Industry insiders claimed that FIL Capital Advisors (India) Private Limited, the Indian private equity arm of Fidelity International, was in the lookout to pick up a stake in IBPL, but the deal did not come through.
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IBPL is focusing on on developing biosimilars and second-generation products (superior generics) for regulated markets of Europe and US after having established its presence in India and other semi-regulated markets.
Intas has a biosimilar product pipeline that covers wide spectrum of oncology products covering solid tumours, haematological malignancies and supportive therapies.
As for India, IBPL has committed an investment of around Rs 160 crore towards setting up of a separate manufacturing facility for monoclonal antibodies during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit of 2009.