Comments
Goldman Sachs has acquired a significant minority stake in Aragen Life Sciences (Aragen), formerly known as GVK Biosciences, by acquiring shares previously held by ChrysCapital and other existing shareholders.
Aragen is a leading provider of outsourced discovery, development, and manufacturing services across both large and small molecule platforms.
Promoted by GV Sanjay Reddy of the Hyderabad based GVK Group in 2001, it has become a specialised contract research organisation. In 2004, DS Brar of Ranbaxy became a co-promoter.
While the company did not disclose a deal value, the acquisition of 33 per cent stake is estimated to be about ₹2,400 crore with the company valued at ₹7,300 crore (about a billion dollars).
"We believe this new investment at this important juncture in our company’s development underscores the tremendous opportunity ahead. Working with Goldman Sachs, we are well-positioned to address the opportunities in front of us to become a leading, global player with comprehensive end-to-end solutions for drug discovery and development," Manni Kantipudi, CEO of Aragen Life Sciences, said.
"For more than five years, ChrysCapital has been a trusted investment partner. Following their successful exit, we are pleased to now enter a new phase in our continued evolution."
"Aragen is well positioned to benefit from the secular trend of increased outsourcing by the life sciences industry. With a clear value creation plan in place, we look forward to closely working with the management and shareholders of Aragen." said Rajat Sood, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "Goldman Sachs is actively seeking to invest and foster leading, national champions of India who are building companies of a global scale."
Healthcare investment
"As an experienced global investor in the healthcare sector and India, we look forward to leveraging our worldwide network and experience to help expand Aragen’s portfolio of differentiated offerings and client base to accelerate the company’s growth." said Michael Bruun, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Raghav Ramdev, Managing Director at ChrysCapital said, "We are proud to have seen Aragen grow and scale from providing discovery services to successfully expanding into development and manufacturing, as well as biologics. It has evolved into an industry leader with a strong base of innovator clients."
Goldman Sachs is an active investor in India, deploying more than $3.6 billion in capital since 2006. Previous investments in Indian healthcare include Biocon Biologics, BPL Medical Technologies, CyteCare Hospitals, Max India and Nova Medical Centers.
Jefferies, Dimensions, and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. advised company, existing shareholders and ChrysCapital. Trilegal, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Deloitte advised Goldman Sachs.
Aragen employs over 3,000 professionals globally and serves more than 450 life sciences customers across biotech and large cap companies.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.