India's PE-backed Laurus Labs file for IPO

According to a filing, Warburg will seek to sell about a third of its 30% holding in the company via its Bluewater unit. Eight Roads will offer about half of its 19% interest under its FIL Capital Management vehicle. Warburg invested INR5.5 billion ($82 million) in the company in 2014, triggering a partial exit for Eight Roads, which operated under the name Fidelity Growth Partners at the time. Fidelity committed INR2 billion to the company in 2012.

The float will include a fresh share component worth up to INR3 billion and will aim to raise as much as INR10 billion in total, according to The Economic Times. The proceeds are planned to partially repay INR11.1 billion in loans and for general corporate purposes.

Laurus was founded in 2005 as a manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for anti-retroviral and Hepatitis C therapies. Operations have since expanded across more than 50 laboratories in 32 countries and include contract services as well as nutraceutical/cosmeceutical ingredients businesses.

It counts nine of the world's ten largest generic pharmaceutical companies as customers and recorded a 32% increase in revenue during the 2016 financial year to INR17.9 billion. Profit improved 94% during the year to INR1.3 billion.

The Indian government has projected the domestic healthcare market to expand in value at a 16.5% compound annual rate until 2020 when it will be worth some $280 billion. Other recent PE-backed IPOs in this space have included diagnostic services companies Dr Lal PathLabs and Thyrocare Technologies.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Healthcare
• IPO
• India
• Exit
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• Eight Roads