Tata Growth commits $30m to India's Biocon

The private equity firm will get a 0.85% stake and the capital will help Biocon service its debts, according to a statement. It follows an earlier capital commitment of INR5.36 billion from Indian private equity firm True North. Biocon's promoter will retain a 95.25% interest after the latest investment.

Biosimilars are drugs with nearly identical effects to medications already on the market. They offer opportunities to increase access to biologics by stimulating price competition and may lower healthcare costs. Biocon Biologics has a product pipeline of 28 molecules. Eleven came from collaborations with Mylan, several more from collaborations with Sandoz, and the rest are being developed independently.

So far, the company has commercialized five biosimilars, targeting several kinds of cancer, diabetes, and infections among patients undergoing chemotherapy. Three are available in developed markets like the EU, Australia, the US, and Japan. Biocon Biologics wants to serve five million patients and generate annual revenues of $1 billion by 2022. Recently, the company also launched a global collaboration with digital therapeutics firm Voluntis and will offer a product targeting type two diabetes across several markets.

“The fund is delighted to partner with Biocon Biologics, a pre-eminent player in biopharmaceuticals on a global scale, as part of our focus on export-oriented manufacturing in world-beating companies,” said Akhil Awasthi, a managing partner at Tata Growth. 

Annual revenue for Biocon’s biosimilars business grew 29% year-on-year to INR19.5 billion during the 12 months ended March. The parent company's overall revenue rose 15% to INR65.2 billion. While the COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted the biosimilars business in the fourth quarter, the company anticipates that the launch of four new products in developed markets should boost the division’s prospects next year.

Tata Capital is the financial services and investment management division of Indian conglomerate Tata Group. It manages five funds focusing on growth capital investment, early-stage deals, healthcare, and special situations. Earlier in the year, Tata Capital pulled out as a financial sponsor for the Tata Opportunities Fund, prompting the management team to pursue a spin-out.

Other investment activity by Tata Growth this year includes a commitment to cybersecurity start-up Indusface Consulting.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• healthcare
• Tata Capital
• True North