Bangalore-based Biocon India has firmed up plans to get listed on the stock exchange through an initial public offer (IPO) next year.
"We will get listed next year, though we haven't made up our mind whether it will be in India or abroad," Biocon India chairman & managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told Business Standard.
The objective of the IPO, according to Mazumdar-Shaw, is to raise money for the company's expansion plans, involving an outlay in excess of Rs 150 crore.
More From This Section
The money will be used in setting up new research & development facilities in Bangalore, where the company's existing R&D facilities are based.
In addition, the IPO has become necessary to provide an exit route to the Biocon India employees who were given stock options in the early-1990s.
"We need to give a value to those stock options," Mazumdar-Shaw said. Biocon India is held 90 per cent by Mazumdar-Shaw, while ICICI holds the remaining 10 per cent.
The Rs 120-crore Biocon India has two broad areas of focus: healthcare and enzymes, ingredients and process aids for industrial applications.
In the area of health care, the company manufactures and markets a number of therapeutic bio-molecules.
The company has combined its own proprietary strengths in fermentation with the world class skill base in synthetic chemistry at Syngene, a 90 per cent subsidiary with ICICI again holding a 10 per cent stake, and has successfully developed a number of specialty biogenerics and other niche bio molecules for the domestic and overseas pharmaceutical markets.
The company services the cardio-vascular, anti-inflammatory, gynaecology and hepato-protective segments.
It also manufactures a wide range of fermentation and synthetic chemistry products, as well as biological extracts.
Biocon India is the market leader for industrial enzymes. The company's enzyme clientele spans a diverse and continually growing spectrum of industry segments, from brewing, food & beverages, animal feed and starch processing to textiles, paper & pulp, detergents, leather and health care.
Biocon India's forte has been in creating niche markets through innovative enzymes and enzyme applications.
In August 2000, Syngene entered the emerging domain of clinical studies and established a subsidiary company, Clinigene International, to conduct longitudinal clinical studies in select disease segments. A 100 per cent export-oriented unit, Clinigene employs 150 scientists.