True North set to buy 8-10% stake in Anthem for Rs 740 cr

Mumbai: Outbidding global buyout funds, home grown private equity fund True North is all set to acquire a minority stake in Bengaluru-based contract research and manufacturing services firm Anthem Biosciences, multiple people aware of the development said.

True North will acquire about 8-10 per cent stake in Anthem Biosciences for Rs 740 crore ($75-100 million), at a valuation of $1 billion (Rs 7,400 crore).

Others who were in the race include US funds Warburg Pincus, General Atlantic and Singapore-based Temasek Holdings. The deal is expected to be signed by next week, sources added.


Set up by ex-Biocon executive Ajay Bharadwaj, Rs 1,200-crore Anthem Biosciences competes with Biocon-owned Syngene International and Hyderabad-based GVK Bio. Anthem's core businesses are contract research services, pharmaceutical active ingredients and global generics.

Of the eight bids received in the first round, about four were shortlisted and a due diligence process by the funds will begin shortly, ET reported in September. The expertise in the pharmaceuticals sector and the exposure to Syngene, a competitor to Anthem Bio, has given a high hand to True North against other bidders, said one of the persons mentioned above.

True North had acquired about 10 per cent stake in Syngene in early 2015. Later, True North divested its entire stake through public market sale in 2017 after Synegene got listed in 2016. A major competitor to Anthem, the Biocon-backed Syngene had a market capitalisation of Rs 24,176 crore as on January 11 on BSE. True North also owns 2.4 per cent stake in Biocon Biologics—a subsidiary of Biocon Ltd, acquired in January last year.

An integrated pharma and biotechnology entity, Anthem Group offers discovery, development and marketing of healthcare products. It had an EBITDA of Rs 400 crore for the last fiscal.