Indian contract drugmaker Anthem Biosciences filed for a 33.95-billion-rupee ($397 million) initial public offering, draft papers showed on Tuesday, at the fag end of what has been a red-hot year for companies listing on
the stock market.
Anthem, whose services include early-stage drug discovery and drug efficacy testing, said private equity firm True North and drugmaker DavosPharma are among investors who will sell shares in the IPO.
The company will not sell any shares and it did not give any other details on the offering.
The Indian IPO market has been bustling this year, with over 300 companies having raised $17.5 billion as of mid-December, more than double the amount raised last year, LSEG data showed.
That gives it the top spot globally in terms of proceeds and volumes, according to consultancy firm KPMG.
Anthem, which began operations in 2007 and has two manufacturing facilities, is also going public at a time when
global drugmakers are turning to India and other markets to limit their reliance on Chinese contractors.
Begaluru-based Anthem also makes active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), which are the main component of a drug, as well as dietary supplements and probiotics.
It competes with the likes of Syngene International, Divi's Laboratories and newly-listed Sai Life Sciences among Indian API makers.
