Private equity firm True North (formerly known as India Value Fund Advisors) has inked a deal to buy Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s orthopaedic and pain management business in India and Nepal, valuing the business at Rs 635 crore ($90 million), the drugmaker said.
Glenmark did not disclose if it would hold any stake in the business, which would be transferred to a new entity to be incorporated by True North. This new entity is likely to be named as Integrace Pvt Ltd and will market the product portfolio in India and Nepal.
The transaction is expected to be completed in two to three months' time.
Sujesh Vasudevan, president, India formulations, Middle East and Africa at Glenmark, will join the board of Integrace.
Glenmark’s orthopaedic and pain management business in India consists of brands such as Esoz, Bon K2, Collasmart, and Lizolid. It clocked revenue of Rs 155.8 crore in 2017-18. This accounted for 6% of the company’s India sales and 1.7% of the total consolidated revenue.
“With a view to provide additional focus and resources to the orthopaedic franchise, we are collaborating with True North and firmly believe that this alliance will help unleash the full potential of this business,” said Vasudevan.
Praneet Singh, partner at True North, said: “Healthcare has been a key focus sector for True North where we have partnered with leading players and have invested over $500 million. We look forward to this collaboration with Glenmark to build a specialty-focused domestic pharmaceutical company.”
Separately, Glenmark, which is backed by Singapore state investment firm Temasek, also decided to hive off its active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) business into a wholly owned subsidiary, Glenmark Life Sciences. This business had revenue of Rs 877.9 crore for the year ended March 2018. Previously, separate media reports had said, citing unidentified people, that True North was set to buy a stake in Glenmark's API business.
The business transfer is expected to be carried out at about Rs 1118 crores based on the value of assets belonging to API business.