Private equity firm Advent International has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in biopharmaceutical company Bharat Serums & Vaccines Ltd, in its fifth India investment this year.
Advent said in a statement it will buy the stake held by healthcare-focussed private equity firm OrbiMed and Kotak Private Equity in Bharat Serums as well as part of the stake owned by the founding Daftary family.
The Daftary family is retaining a ‘meaningful’ stake in the business, Advent said, without disclosing the exact size.
The PE firm also didn’t reveal the deal value. But it said that it has now invested or committed more than $600 million in five Indian businesses in 2019 in the healthcare, consumer products and financial services sectors.
Advent’s other new bets this year include include an investment of around $138 million in Aditya Birla Capital Ltd and a tad lower in DFM Foods Ltd. It also invested $45 million in innerwear brand Enamor, and made an additional investment in innerwear maker Dixcy Textiles Pvt. Ltd after first buying a controlling stake in 2017.
A person familiar with the latest transaction said on the condition of anonymity that Advent is likely spending anywhere between $250 million and $275 million (Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore) on Bharat Serums. This would value the company around $500-550 million.
The hectic pace of dealmaking comes after Advent in June raised $17.5 billion for its new global PE fund.
“Advent’s high level of investment activity in India this year demonstrates the attractiveness of the market and our commitment to investing here,” said Shweta Jalan, a managing director and India head at Advent.
Bharat Serums makes products for women’s healthcare, assisted reproductive treatment, critical care and emergency medicine in India and emerging markets.
“Bharat Serums has a differentiated portfolio of biotech and biological offerings in high-growth segments,” said Pankaj Patwari, a director at Advent International in Mumbai. “We are also excited about the company’s robust R&D pipeline, which offers the potential to capture whitespace both in India and global markets.”
Including the Bharat Serums acquisition, Advent has invested or committed $2.2 billion in seven companies across the healthcare industry in 2019.
Advent has been investing in India since 2007. During this time, it has deployed more than $1.5 billion in 11 companies with headquarters or operations in the country, the firm said.
The Bharat Serums acquisition is likely to close by the end of this year. Innergize Solutions acted as the strategic adviser to Bharat Serums on the transaction.