Biocon Research to Get Investment from GE Capital

An official announcement confirmed that GE Capital will invest Rs.125 crore ($24 million) for a minority stake in the research arm of the country's biotech major Biocon Ltd.

"GE Capital's Mauritius subsidiary (GE Equity International) will invest Rs.125 crore for a 7.69 percent equity share in our research services subsidiary Syngene International Ltd.," Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw told reporters here.

Noting that the private equity investment would propel Syngene to go public soon, Shaw said GE's decision validated the subsidiary's business model to deliver value to its partners and investors.

"The investment will enable us to expand Syngene's discovery and development services platform and harness the global outsourcing opportunity to foster strategic partnerships with leading pharma and biotech firms," the subsidiary's director Peter Bains said.

Syngene's contract research reported 15 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in the first half (April-Sept) of this fiscal (2012-13) to Rs.734 crore from Rs.640 crore in the same period last fiscal (211-12), on strong performance of immuno-suppressants, insulins, Fidaxomicin and Orlistat.

Syngene posted sales turnover of Rs.250 crore during the six months of fiscal 2013 as against Rs.400 crore in the entire last fiscal (2011-12).

For second quarter (July-Sept), the research subsidiary registered 39 percent YoY growth to Rs.129 crore from Rs.93 crore a year ago.

"We seek to add value to companies we invest in, by sharing our expertise and experience in innovation, technology and global expansion," GE India chief executive John Flannery said in a statement here.

As a leading contract research organisation, Syngene offers integrated drug discover-and-development services with domain expertise in medicinal chemistry, in vivo pharmacology, toxicology, custom synthesis and formulation development for molecules.

Source: IANS