Piramal Life Sciences, the demerged research and development unit of Nicholas Piramal, is likely to be listed by June.Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Group, said: "The promoters might dilute 10% stake in Piramal Life Sciences to private equity, strategic or international firms over the next 12 months. Lehman Brothers, Kotak and Enam Securities have independently valued the R&D pipeline in the range of $480-540 million (Rs 1,920-2,160 crore)."The group today also announced the launch of its new corporate identity. While Nicholas Piramal will now be known as Piramal Helathcare, Gujarat Glass and NPIL Laboratories and Diagnostics have been renamed as Piramal Glass and Piramal Diagnostic Services, respectively.Explaining the rationale behind re-branding, Piramal said: "There was a need for change as it has been 20 years since we entered the pharmaceuticals business. The group needs to have common values as we are entering new businesses and expanding internationally." The group's new logo is the Gyan Mudra - an aesthetic hand posture practised in yoga, meditation and dance over the past 3,000 years. The three fingers in the logo symbolise the mind, the body and the intellect mirroring the group's core values: knowledge, action care.Piramal said: "The Gyan Mudra epitomises the core values of the group - knowledge, action and care. It is said to focus the mind, body and heart to give the light of knowledge, encourage dynamic action and deep compassion bringing health, prosperity and peace to all."Piramal also indicated that Nicholas Piramal may explore new avenues in the healthcare space. "We aspire to democratise the healthcare services as merely 30% of the population has access to modern medicine. The market is growing at 12% while the company is expected to grow at 16-17%," said Piramal.Nicholas Piramal has developed a hub-and-spoke model to offer medicines in rural areas. The company will train nurses in rural areas for diagnosis who, in turn, will communicate with doctors based in cities for prescriptions.Piramal said: "Most villages do not have access to modern medicines, and neither can doctors physically visit all the villages. This activity will provide timely medicine to patients."The company has started implementing the project on an experimental basis in Rajasthan, and plans to cover one lakh villages in the next five years. Piramal hinted that the company will tie-up with a software company to provide proactive software for mobile connectivity.Indiareit Fund Advisors, the real estate venture capital fund promoted by the group, will raise $700-800 million through an offshore fund to invest in the domestic market. Piramal said: "The company will launch its second international fund of $700-800 million (Rs 2,800- 3,200 crore) approvals of which are expected by April. UK-based 3i Plc has committed $250 million (Rs 1,000 crore) for the fund that will invest in FDI-approved projects in India."Indiareit currently manages a corpus of $ 450 million raised through two domestic and an offshore fund.
