Natco Pharma plans to raise $24M to build syringe unit

By TEAM VCC

  • 04 Oct 2013

Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Ltd plans to raise around Rs 150 crore ($24.4 million) by the end of next month to build a pre-filled syringe unit.

“We have obtained shareholders’ approval for mobilising up to Rs 300 crore, but we may need only Rs 150 crore at present,” P Bhaskara Narayana, director and CFO of Natco was quoted in a report published by The Hindu Business Line.

The board of the company took the decision to raise funds through a variety of instruments, including qualified institutions placements, fully or partly convertible debentures, non-convertible debentures with warrants and foreign currency convertible bonds. The decision was taken by the board at the annual general meeting which was held on September 28.

The company will build the proposed unit at Kothur in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. Natco is building another plant in Guwahati which will manufacture finished dosage and is almost complete.

Natco Pharma reported a 27.8 per cent increase in FY13 total income to Rs 664 crore with net profit growing 21.7 per cent to Rs 71.8 crore compared with the previous fiscal.

The company got funding of Rs 23.7 crore from Kotak Private Equity Group as part of a QIP issue in December 2011. It started exiting the investment in June by selling a third of its holding with 2x gains.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)