Pharmaceuticals company Vivimed Labs Ltd said it has received $7.5 million (Rs 47.7 crore) more for its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) unit from existing investor OrbiMed.
This comes a little over three months after OrbiMed, a healthcare-focussed investment firm, invested $42.5 million (Rs 276.7 crore) in the unit Vivimed Labs (Mascarene) Ltd, the drugmaker said in a stock-market disclosure.
Vivimed Labs (Mascarene) is the holding company of Vivimed's API, or bulk drugs, business held under the brand UQUIFA, which it had acquired in 2011. UQUIFA contributes around 60% to the company’s consolidated revenue and a higher proportion of operating profit, Vivimed had said last September.
Santosh Varalwar, managing director at Vivimed Labs, said that the fresh funding reiterates OrbiMed’s confidence in the company’s business model.
UQUIFA executive director Saurabh Gurnurkar said the additional funds will be used to drive business growth and increase the company’s profit through organic and inorganic measures.
UQUIFA has three manufacturing sites, in Spain and Mexico. Its main customers include Gilead Lifesciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Mylan and Actavis.
OrbiMed
The private equity firm raised $551 million in capital commitments for its third fund, OrbiMed Asia Partners III LP last September.
The new fund will invest across the Asian healthcare industry, with a focus on growth-stage product- and services-oriented companies in China and India.
The third fund is bigger than its two predecessor funds combined. OrbiMed’s second fund closed in 2014 after raising $325 million, lower than its initial target of over $500 million. Its first healthcare fund had raised $185 million.
The PE firm’s recent investments in India include Suraksha Diagnostics, in which it picked up a minority stake last year. Last October, it also made a follow-on investment in Bharat Serums & Vaccines Ltd and backed specialty pharmaceuticals company Eurolife Healthcare.
OrbiMed’s other portfolio companies in India include dental chain Laxmi Dental Export Pvt. Ltd, hospital chain Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, and mother- and child-care company Surya Children’s Medicare Pvt. Ltd.