Mega sale of Advent-backed Bharat Serums & Vaccines: Who are the 3 suitors in the final lap?

In May, Moneycontrol reported that a clutch of global private equity funds had evinced interest in the BSV sale process. (Representative image)

The ongoing big-bang sale process of private equity major Advent International-backed top biopharmaceutical firm Bharat Serums & Vaccines ( BSV) has boiled down to a three-way race, four persons in the know told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.

"A consortium of Swedish private equity firm EQT and ADIA ( Abu Dhabi Investment Authority), domestic pharma major Mankind Pharma and a consortium of ChrysCapital, Warburg Pincus and Mubadala have been selected for the next round post submission of initial bids," one of the persons quoted above said.

Moneycontrol was the first to report the sale plans of BSV on December 2.

This was followed by a December 20 report that said investment banks JP Morgan and Jefferies had been picked as sell side advisors for the deal.

Two other persons also confirmed that the above three suitors have been shortlisted for the next stage of the proposed transaction.

They told Moneycontrol that the submission of binding bids is expected in mid-July.

With BSV having an established market position in its product segments and strong R&D capabilities, Advent International is expecting a valuation between $1.5 billion to $2 billion for its portfolio company , as per the Moneycontrol report.

A fourth person said the EQT led consortium and Mankind Pharma had been more aggressive in terms of financial bids and both parties were the frontrunners but also added that the ChrysCapital combine had more experience in striking deals across the pharma segment.

When contacted, Advent International and EQT declined to comment.

Email queries to ADIA, Mankind Pharma, ChrysCapital, Warburg Pincus and Mubadala were left unanswered at the time of publishing this article.

In May, Moneycontrol reported that a clutch of global private equity funds had evinced interest in the BSV sale process.

Mankind Pharma and ChrysCapital had joined hands earlier in the race for Apax Partners backed medical devices player Healthium Medtech, which was eventually won by KKR.

Further, in an interview to Moneycontrol in April, Jean Salata, Chairperson of EQT Asia and Head of Private Capital Asia, shared that EQT is considering deploying $5 billion in India this year across sectors like IT, pharma/healthcare and financials.

Incidentally, Advent is also exploring strategic options to unlock value in another portfolio company - India's largest rigid plastic packaging firm Manjushree Technopak. A sale process is in the works though Advent also wants to keep the IPO option handy, according to an earlier Moneycontrol report.

Advent announced the buyout of a controlling stake in Bharat Serums in November 2019, providing a complete exit to the erstwhile investors, Orbimed Asia and Kotak PE. A partial exit was given to the founders, the Daftary family. Back then, the deal valued the firm around $500 million.

Mumbai-based Bharat Serums and Vaccines Limited was set up in 1971 and is engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of biological, biotech and pharmaceutical formulations.

According to a note by ICRA Ratings dated September 11, 2023, its product profile comprises plasma derivatives, monoclonal, fertility hormones, antitoxins, antifungals, anaesthetics, cardiovascular drugs, diagnostic products and more. The firm has a key manufacturing facility at Ambernath and another smaller facility at Thane. It also has a horse farm in Hyderabad, an R&D unit at Navi Mumbai and four wholly-owned subsidiaries in the US, Germany, the Philippines and India.