Homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital’s open offer to acquire additional shares of Novartis India Ltd has found no takers as the drugmaker’s shares rallied in recent months.
In February, ChrysCapital agreed to acquire Swiss pharmaceutical major Novartis AG’s entire stake in its Mumbai-listed unit for Rs 1,445.8 crore ($159 million) and buy a 70.68% stake in Novartis India Ltd.
It also made an open offer to acquire another 26% stake in Novartis India from its public shareholders for around Rs 552 crore at Rs 860.64 per share. This would have increased ChrysCapital’s ownership to over 96% in the company.
However, shares of Novartis India have risen more than 72% since February, when the offer was announced, with the scrip trading at Rs 1,485 as of Friday morning.
Novartis AG had announced in early 2024 that it was exploring a strategic review of its India unit. At the time, the Swiss pharma major said that the review won’t impact another India unit, Novartis Healthcare Pvt Ltd.
Novartis's presence in India dates back to 1947. It operates in the country via two entities: Novartis Healthcare and the Mumbai-listed Novartis India. For the Swiss giant, India is one of the few countries where it has a broad presence, including four divisions, namely: commercial pharma operations, drug development, biomedical research, and operations.
Meanwhile, ChrysCapital executed the buyout in February through its 10th flagship fund. ChrysCap set a record last year for raising the largest sector-agnostic fund ever raised by a PE firm in the country. The fund’s $2.2 billion corpus is 60% higher than the $1.35-billion ChrysCap raised three years ago for its ninth fund.
Novartis India will join a long list of pharmaceutical companies that ChrysCapital has backed.
At present, ChrysCapital's healthcare portfolio includes at least four pharmaceutical and domestic formulation companies. These are La Renon Healthcare, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Eris Lifesciences, and Corona Remedies. It had invested $70 million in Gujarat-based La Renon Healthcare in 2024.
The PE firm is reported to be evaluating more deals in the pharma space. VCCircle reported last year that it emerged as a frontrunner to invest in a local contract development and manufacturing organisation in Aizant Drug Research Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Some of its notable exits in the pharma space so far include GVK Bio, Zydus Cadilla, Torrent Pharma, Ipca Laboratories, Curatio Healthcare, and Mankind Pharma.
