Advent International, a global private equity investors, on Friday announced the completion of its majority acquisition of Suven Pharmaceuticals Ltd, one of the top contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) in India.
Advent acquired 50.1% stake in Suven at an agreed price of Rs 495 per share. An open offer for the remaining 26% of stake will be triggered within stipulated timelines, and the required details will be announced soon. “As a majority stakeholder, Advent plans to foster Suven’s capabilities to help it strive towards becoming one of the leading companies in the CDMO space globally,” said the pharma firm in a stock exchange filing. On Friday, Suven Pharma’s scrip on BSE closed 3.8% higher at Rs 561.35.
Advent also announced the new Board of Directors and management team for Suven Pharma. Suven will be led by a management team comprising Annaswamy Vaidheesh (Executive Chairman), V Prasada Raju (Managing Director) and Sudhir Kumar Singh (Chief Executive Officer).
Executive Chairman Annaswamy Vaidheesh, has over 35 years of experience, including as Managing Director of GSK India, President of OPPI (Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India), and earlier was with J&J Asia Pacific in senior regional leadership positions. Prasada Raju, Managing Director, has over 29 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with leadership roles at Cohance Life Sciences, Granules India Ltd. and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Sudhir Kumar Singh, a reputed industry veteran who was the ex-COO at Aragen Life Sciences for more than 10 years, joins as the CEO of Suven Pharma.
“We are delighted to enter the value creation phase of our journey with the appointment of an experienced management team. Our new leaders are stalwarts of the industry, and we believe they are the right team to deliver on the ambitious vision we have set out for Suven,” said Shweta Jalan, Managing Partner at Advent International.
Annaswamy Vaidheesh, Executive Chairman, said, “These are fascinating times for us as we take on the responsibility of leading Suven Pharma to new frontiers. We aim to leverage our expertise, resources across Advent, and Suven team’s proven capabilities to deliver high-quality services to Suven’s customers worldwide. I am delighted to be leading this transformational journey.”
“Our vision for Suven is to build a global leader by executing effectively on our pipeline, deepening our customer relationships, building new marquee customers, and scaling up manufacturing and R&D capabilities. We are very excited about the opportunities for growth with the support of a top class management team, assisted by an exemplary Board and Advisory Council,” said Pankaj Patwari, Managing Director at Advent International.
In addition to the new management team, Suven has appointed an advisory council: Venkateswarlu Jasti, Founder, Suven Pharma and Suven Lifesciences; Abhijit Mukherjee, Ex-COO Dr Reddy’s; ames Mullen, Ex-President and CEO of Patheon and Biogen; and Stefan Stoffel, Ex-COO of Lonza.
In terms of the Board of Directors, along with Mr Vaidheesh and Dr Prasada Raju, Pankaj Patwari, Managing Director at Advent, will also join the team.
Earlier this month, the government approved an foreign direct investment of up to Rs 9,589 crore in Suven Pharmaceuticals by Cyprus-based Berhyanda Ltd to fund capacity expansion of the Indian pharma company and also generate new jobs.
According to the release, entire investments in Berhyanda Ltd are held by Advent Funds, which pool investments from various Limited Partners (LPs).
Advent Funds are managed by Advent International Corporation, an entity incorporated in the US. Advent International Corporation, set up in 1984 has made investments of about $75 billion in 42 countries.
