Strides Pharma biopharma unit concludes $195m Series B and Series C fund raise

Post money valuation for Stelis Biopharma after Series C fund raise pegged at about $350 million.

Stelis Biopharma (Stelis) announced that it has successfully concluded its Series B and Series C fund raise for a cumulative amount of $195 million. Post money valuation for Stelis will be pegged at about $350 million, underpinning the significant growth potential of the business. With the current capital raise, Stelis is now well positioned to pursue its growth initiatives and scale its business model to deliver promising returns in the coming years.

The capital raise will be utilized in the completion of last mile capex for the CDMO business including setting up of 6 KL mammalian block; ramp up of process development lab and other technical capabilities; accelerating the vaccine block infrastructure with ability to cater to multiple vaccine types including viral vector, protein subunit, RNA and DNA; and debt servicing & other general corporate purposes.

Post completion on Series C fund raise, Strides Pharma Science will hold 33% (pre-ESOP) in Stelis with its investment valued at $116 million. Strides will demerge and list its biopharma business under Stelis on a standalone basis enabling significant value unlocking for Strides shareholders. The transaction is subject to approval from shareholders, meeting customary closing conditions and is expected to achieve closure in over 12 months.

Commenting on the development, Arun Kumar, the founder of Strides Group, stated: "We are delighted with current round of capital raise at Stelis led by TPG Growth along with Route One, Think Investments and the Mankekar family. I am extremely thankful to Matt Hobart and Ankur Thadani from TPG Growth, Bill Duhamel and Justin Maletsky from Route One, Shashin Shah from Think Investments, Shivanand and Kedar from the Mankekar family for their trust in our leadership. We are pleased that GMS will continue to be our shareholder post the secondary placement. Stelis is now getting into its growth phase and is witnessing strong customer traction for its CDMO offerings including Vaccines. We are confident to build a sustainable business & deliver significant value for our shareholders."

On a consolidated basis, the pharmaceutical firm posted a 61.9% fall in net profit to Rs 35.16 crore on a 13.6% rise in net sales to Rs 832.02 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20.

Shares of Strides Pharma Science declined 2.52% to Rs 753.80 on BSE.

Strides Pharma Science is a global pharmaceutical company. It focuses on "difficult to manufacture" products that are sold in over 100 countries. The company has 127 cumulative ANDA filings with USFDA of which 99 ANDAs have been approved and 28 are pending approval.

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