True North has signed definitive documents to acquire the stake
Private equity fund True North will be acquiring a minority stake in Bengaluru-based pharma player Anthem Biosciences by investing an undisclosed sum in the company.
True North has signed definitive documents to acquire the stake and looks to partner with founders Ajay Bhardwaj, Ganesh Sambasivan and KC Ravindra as Anthem invests growth capital towards expanding capacity and capability for its rapid growth phase, an official statement said.
The announcement came even as reports speculated that the homegrown private equity major has acquired around a 10 per cent stake in Anthem in a deal that valued the company at $1 billion. The press statement from True North did not mention the deal details.
“We have been closely following the growth story of Anthem Biosciences and are impressed with the progress the team has made in becoming a globally competitive player in the fast-growing CDMO (contract development and manufacturing company) industry,” True North’s partner Satish Chander said.
He said the company has showcased outstanding results in its contribution toward the development of new and effective pharmaceutical products in a short period.
The 2007-founded company’s chief executive Bharadwaj said it is at an inflection point after establishing credentials as a researcher and manufacturer of both chemistry-based small molecule therapeutics and fermentation-based biopharmaceuticals.
True North has investments of over $700 million in the healthcare and life sciences sector and has raised over $3 billion across six funds till now.
Anthem is an integrated drug discovery, development and manufacturing services provider with scale-up capabilities in both chemical and biological pharmaceuticals, with manufacturing facilities near Bengaluru which have been successfully inspected by US FDA, PMDA (Japan), EDQM, as per the statement.
PTI
