Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek has bought 10.16 per cent stake in Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd from PE firm ChrysCapital, for an undisclosed amount by way of a secondary PE deal, as per a press release.
VCCircle had first reported that Temasek has emerged as the front-runner for buying the stake for around Rs 840 crore.
In September this year, Temasek, one of the two sovereign wealth funds of Singapore, received Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) approval to buy part of the stake held by in the pharma company. It had also received a nod from FIPB, the nodal body monitoring foreign investment in the country, to go ahead with the transaction.
Existing PE investor ChrysCapital has part exited its investment in the pharmaceutical company in this transaction. The PE firm held 16.8 per cent stake in the company and has sold almost two-thirds of it.
It had invested Rs 353 crore through two funds; ChrysCapital III and ChrysCapital V in 2005 and 2012, respectively.
It had originally picked ICICI Venture’s 12.5 per cent in the company in a secondary deal in late 2005 for Rs 53 crore, valuing Intas at Rs 425 crore. When it invested in the company through a fresh issue in 2012 it valued the firm at around Rs 4,800 crore.
“Intas has been an excellent investment for ChrysCapital with the company having grown revenues at 27 per cent CAGR since its investment in CY06. ChrysCapital reaffirmed its faith in the company with a fresh Rs 300 crore investment from a separate fund in CY12 and will continue to remain invested for the next few years,†said Sanjiv Kaul, MD, ChrysCapital.
Intas was ChrysCapital's first investment in the pharmaceutical sector. It has invested in several pharma firms since then, including Mankind, Cadila, Eris Lifesciences, Ipca Labs and most recently Torrent Pharma.
Intas was initially planning an IPO to raise funds and provide part exit to ChrysCapital. The pharma firm has twice deferred its plan of going to the bourses. In 2013, Intas wanted to raise Rs 225 crore via an IPO. It received SEBI’s nod for the same in September last year. It let the approval lapse. Prior to that, it filed documents in 2011 for an IPO.
Temasek has some minority investment in the companies engaged in the pharmaceutical and health sector in India including Medreich Ltd, a firm which it exited recently.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
