Serum Institute exploring fund raise at subsidiary level by diluting minority stake for COVID-19 project: Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India is looking to induct investors at the subsidiary level and dilute a minority stake, as the Pune-headquartered firm looks to hedge its bets and raise funds for its critical COVID-19 project. The fund raising plans are at an early stage and were confirmed by Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer has tied up with British drug maker AstraZeneca for manufacturing the Oxford vaccine candidate for novel coronavirus, which is considered a frontrunner in the ongoing fight by scientists and researchers against the global pandemic.

On June 26, Moneycontrol was the first to report that the privately held vaccine manufacturer had appointed investment banks and was looking to reduce the enormous development risks attached to the project and raise around a billion dollars by selling a minority stake to investors with suitable capabilities.

“It’s not happening at the Serum Institute level. It will happen, if we get the right offers and valuations, in a subsidiary, which has five COVID-19 vaccine candidates and other vaccines, including a one billion dose facility as an asset. It’s still very early, I think the bankers are talking to funds right now. If that clicks in a month or two, we may dilute 15-20 percent equity in that and raise capital there. We won’t be raising capital at the Serum Institute level as that has other implications for all other vaccines and commitments (and) that’s a much larger picture and a much larger entity,” Poonawalla told CNBC-TV18.