 "Binish Chudgar")
With global giants such as Mylan and Novartis bidding for the UK and Ireland assets of Israeli generic giant Teva, along with buyout firms like Apollo Global, the Indian contenders looked weak. Weakest among them was Intas Pharmaceuticals, which was bidding alongside bigger Indian rivals Aurobindo Pharma and Torrent Pharmaceuticals.
Yet Aurobindo Pharma and Intas emerged the final bidders, both tying up funds from banks to finance the deal. “Aurobindo Pharma is seen as an aggressive player, so the perception was tilted towards the Hyderabad-based company,” said a banker. Aurobindo Pharma also lined up a $1 billion bridge loan from Japanese financial giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
“There was a wide gap between what we thought was the right price and the price that we were required to match if we wanted to win the bid,” an Aurobindo Pharma executive said after the deal was announced. He declined to divulge the company’s final bid.
Intas lapped up Teva’s assets for Rs 5,100 crore, surprising the veteran rainmakers watching the deal.
This is the largest acquisition by an Indian drug company abroad after Lupin’s Rs 5,600 crore acquisition of Gavis in the US last year.
“Intas had conducted a meticulous analysis of the target assets’ synergy with its operations in Europe,” said Manisha Girotra, chief executive officer at Moelis & Co in India. The investment banking firm advised Intas on the deal.
“It had conviction of the cost benefit and value creation these assets would provide. This was all built into the bid it finally made,” Girotra added.
Many attribute the Intas coup to the team of Binish Chudgar and Nimish Chudgar, who have played complementary roles to take the company to $1 billion revenue from about $100,000 a couple of decades ago.
“If Binish is the face of the company, Nimish is the body,” said Sanjiv Kaul, managing director of Chrys Capital. The private equity firm owns about six per cent of Intas.
“This is one of the best teams I have come across in the pharmaceutical industry, with one playing the role of a driver and another that of an enabler,” added Kaul who has spent over 30 years in the drug industry, including a long stint with Ranbaxy Laboratories.
Binish is vice-chairman and managing director at Intas and Nimish heads operations. Both are second-generation entrepreneurs with their octogenarian father Hasmukh K Chudgar being the chairman. He passed on the baton to his sons in the early nineties.
His third son Urmish is a haematologist-oncologist who helps identify the unmet medical needs for the company’s growth and also heads its biopharma arm. The family is extremely low profile, shunning the limelight. “Nothing has changed for us,” said Binish Chudgar after the deal. He declined to provide any target for Intas after this acquisition.
“The deal proves our strategy is playing out well. We are enjoying the journey more than chasing any destination,” he said, adding Intas’ strategy of achieving 20-25 per cent annual growth would continue.
KNOW THE CHUDGARS
Hasmukh K Chudgar:
Popularity: Ranks 66th on the Forbes India 100 Richest People list this year
Networth: $1.87 billion
Successors: Three sons — Binish, Nimish and Urmish, who were passed the baton in the early 90s
Distinct roles:
Binish: Vice-chairman and managing director
Nimish: In-charge of operations
Urmish: Heads the biopharma arm
