Mankind Pharma Ltd has agreed to acquire Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd (BSV) from private equity firm Advent International for an enterprise value of about Rs 13,630 crore ($1.63 billion).
The move marks a "significant leap" for Mankind Pharma, positioning it as a market leader in the Indian women's health and fertility drug market, the drugmaker said in a statement. The acquisition will also provide Mankind access to other high-entry barrier products in critical care with established complex R&D tech platforms, the company said.
The announcement comes a year after VCCircle first reported that Advent was looking to sell a stake in BSV. The PE firm had acquired BSV in 2019 from PE firm OrbiMed and Kotak Private Equity and BSV's founding family at a valuation of around $500-550 million.
“Mankind’s investment in BSV is a testament to our approach of identifying and nurturing unique businesses, working with high-quality management teams and building these businesses into respected industry leaders,” said Shweta Jalan, Managing Partner and Head of Advent India.
BSV has a niche portfolio offering in women's health, encompassing the entire lifecycle – from fertility to post-pregnancy. It has developed recombinant and niche biologic products in-house. Its in-house R&D centre along with a team of more than 60 scientists, a strong product pipeline, coupled with a diverse domestic product portfolio offering huge scalability potential through niche filings across markets, Mankind said.
“BSV's established specialty R&D tech platforms with complex portfolio across women’s health, fertility, critical care and immunoglobulin segment perfectly aligns Mankind Pharma's strategic vision to expand its footprint in high entry barrier portfolio,” said Rajeev Juneja, vice-chairman and managing director, Mankind Pharma.
BSV reported revenue of Rs 1,723 crore in FY24, delivering 20% year-on-year growth with adjusted EBITDA margins of 28%. The business has recorded annualised revenue growth of about 21% over the last three years.
Moelis & Company acted as the exclusive financial advisor and AZB & Partners acted as legal counsel to Mankind Pharma. Advent and BSV were advised by Jefferies LLC and J.P. Morgan as financial advisors and Khaitan & Co as legal counsel.
