PAG invests $200m in India's RK Pharma

RK was founded in 2018 by biomedical researcher and drug developer Ravishanker Kovi, who previously created a portfolio of more than 50 drug substances and drug products that was sold in 2017 to Dutch pharma operator Mylan, now part of Pfizer.

The company develops affordable generic pharmaceutical products with a particular focus on complex injectables. It has a sterile drug factory in New York as well as US Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-approved facilities in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Its subsidiaries, US-based Apicore and India-based Aktinos Pharma, provide complex active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates. The US-based commercialisation arm, Archis Pharma, is said to have capacities for global commercial planning across all facets of commercial operations, including regulatory issues.

The plan is to develop new partnerships and launch new medicines. The company currently supplies APIs to more than 100 pharmaceutical companies globally. It also claims drug development, manufacturing, and commercialisation partnerships with five of the top 10 pharma companies globally.

Indian API companies have attracted increasing private equity attention since the FDA set up an office in the country in 2008.  India now has the most FDA-approved drug facilities outside the US. More recent traction has been tied to China’s pollution control legislation chipping away at its historical dominance in API exports, as well as a general industry imperative to diversify supply chains.

This is PAG’s fifth India-focused private equity deal in recent years. They include the acquisitions of API makers Anjan Drug and Optimus Drugs in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Both transactions were made via PAG’s Gamot API, a platform in partnership with CX Partners and Samara Capital. In 2021, PAG also acquired contract drug maker Acme Formulation.

The private equity firm has deployed more than USD 1.5bn in India. Its broader exposure to the country includes a controlling position in Nuvama Asset Management, formerly Edelweiss Wealth Management, acquired in 2021 for USD 300m. Earlier this week, Nuvama invested in Course5 Intelligence, an Indian data analytics provider with some pharma industry clients.

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