Comments
Cipla’s board has approved an investment by private equity Fidelity Growth Partners in its consumer healthcare business, the drugmaker said without giving the financial details.
Incubated under Cipla New Ventures, the consumer healthcare business helps the pharmaceutical company tap the dynamic over-the-counter (OTC) segment. Fidelity Growth Partners India and US-based Fidelity Biosciences, through FIL Capital Investments (Mauritius) II Ltd or its affiliates, will invest in this business, Cipla said.
“Partnering with a long-term strategic and financial investor like Fidelity Growth Partners will help us create a best-in-class consumer healthcare business,” said Samina Vaziralli, Cipla’s Executive Director, who has been responsible for shaping this business. Vaziralli, niece of Cipla chairman Dr YK Hamied, had been inducted into Cipla’s board earlier this month.
“In the consumer healthcare business, we need a strong FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) talent pool and the right ecosystem with a ‘pharma in/ FMCG out’ mind-set,” Vaziralli said. Cipla’s board had recently approved the divestment of its consumer healthcare business to a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Rapid growth Raj Dugar, Senior Managing Director, Fidelity Growth Partners India, said OTC consumer healthcare was a nascent but rapidly growing market in India.
The domestic market is estimated at $4 billion and growing at about 15 per cent. It is projected to clock $10 billion by 2020.
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.