Latest news with #SaiLifeSciences
Mint
19 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Indian contract drug makers timed their IPOs right. But is the business worth the premium?
An anticipated shift in the global pharmaceutical supply chain away from China has investors excited about Indian contract research, development and manufacturing organisations (CRDMOs), companies that offer services from early-stage drug discovery to late-stage drug development. Export-focused CRDMOs including Anthem Biosciences, Sai Life Sciences and Divi's Laboratories are trading at expensive valuations, reflecting investor enthusiasm as innovator drug companies look at diversifying and derisking their operations. However, experts cautioned that while CRDMOs are expected to post high growth, their financial performances have yet to reflect it. Bengaluru-based Anthem Biosciences made a stellar debut on the stock exchanges on 21 July, listing on the National Stock Exchange at a premium of 27 percent over its initial public offering price of ₹ 570. The IPO, with an issue size of ₹ 3,395.79 crore, was subscribed 67.42 times. Anthem's stock traded at a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 93.24 on 25 July. 'The good news is that… China is a behemoth. So, we have that much headroom to grow,' Ajay Bhardwaj, managing director and chief executive officer, told Mint earlier. About 65% of India's imported bulk drugs and advanced drug intermediates worth $3.5 billion in FY25 came from China, according to the commerce ministry. The government wants to strengthen local manufacturing through an upgraded drugs production-linked incentive scheme as it pushes for self-sufficiency in bulk drugs that go into manufacturing medicines. The Indian CRDMO industry today is worth $3-3.5 billion, making up only 2-3% of the global CRDMO market, which is worth $145 billion. It grew at a compound annual growth rate of 15% from 2019-2024, according to a recent report by BCG and IPSO. The industry is at a tipping point, with strong fundamentals and massive headroom to grow, fueled by competitive advantage in small molecule capabilities, faster startup time, focus on quality and cost advantages, the report noted. Unlike CRDMOs, CDMOs (contract development and manufacturing organisations) are typically involved in manufacturing already commercialised drugs. Sai Life Sciences, which made its market debut in December 2024, traded at ₹ 837 on 25 July, close to its high of about ₹ 851, valuing the company at roughly 102 times trailing earnings and about 8.2 times book value. Divi's Laboratories and Syngene International also traded at premiums, at a PE ratio of 80.31 and 55.09, respectively. In comparison, generic pharmaceutical giants are valued relatively modestly: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries trades at a PE ratio of 37.37, Dr Reddy's Laboratories at 18.84, and Cipla at 23.53. Sai Life Sciences shares are up over 18% since listing on the NSE. Divi's Laboratories gained 35.56% from 30 July 2024 to 28 July 2025, Piramal Pharma rose 20.36%, while Syngene International's shares were down 12.72%. Syngene International, a unit of biopharmaceutical company Biocon, kicked off this fiscal's earnings season last week. It posted an 11% year-on-year rise in revenue from operations to ₹ 875 crore for Q1, a robust start compared to its FY25 performance (4% revenue growth YoY). The management maintained its expectation of revenue growth in the mid‑teens for FY26. Sai Life Sciences delivered 16% revenue growth to ₹ 1,695 crore in FY25. Divi's reported a 19% year-on-year rise in full-year revenue to ₹ 9,360 crore in FY25, while net profit surged 37% to ₹ 2,191 crore. Divi's is expected to post revenue growth of 18% year-on-year in Q1FY26, according to brokerage BNP Paribas. 'The Indian CDMO sub-sector presents a highly promising opportunity as investors view it as a direct beneficiary of the China+1 thematic,' Sunil Khaitan, managing director leading financing in India at Goldman Sachs, told Mint. 'We expect the capital markets activity in this space to further accelerate over the next 6-12 months.' The China-plus one theme – to diversify supply chains and reduce overdependence on China – is a key driver, but it's not just that. CRDMOs are on an aggressive capacity expansion track as they anticipate winning over more clients in the future and bank on technological niches to cater to biotech companies as demand for new technologies and drugs grows. Anthem has expertise in new chemical entities as well as biologics (drugs made from living organisms or their components) and capabilities to work on RNAi (a gene regulatory mechanism), antibody drug conjugates that target and kill cancer cells, peptides (short chains of amino acids), lipids, and oligonucleotides (synthesised nucleic acids). OneSource Specialty Pharma, a subsidiary of Strides Pharma, which listed in January, expects its focus on niche areas such as biologics, drug substances, injectables, and drug-device combinations to drive growth. Its offerings in drug-device combinations, particularly for GLP-1s (hormones that regulate blood sugar levels), which are often sold in pen-filled devices, is expected to be a major growth opportunity. 'We are currently executing a 5x expansion of our cartridge-filling capabilities to meet our customer demand and which will significantly boost future revenue,' CEO Neeraj Sharma told Mint in an emailed response. Anthem Biosciences and Sai Life Sciences did not respond to Mint's queries. Investors are looking at CRDMOs not just for potential growth driven by these tailwinds but also as diversification of their portfolios, experts said. Opportunities in traditional pharma companies with a focus on domestic formulations and US generics are drying up because of a slowdown in new approvals and regulatory issues. 'The investor would like to have exposure to companies and segments which have the potential for high growth and themes of shifting manufacturing from China to India,' Tausif Shaikh, healthcare and pharma analyst at BNP Paribas, told Mint. While CRDMOs have reported steady, mid-teen revenue growth, their performance has not been encouraging enough even as valuations remain expensive, Shaikh pointed out. Unlike sectors such as healthcare services, where one can gauge a company's performance based on metrics like hospital bed occupancy and average revenue per bed, for contract drug manufacturers, management commentary is the main indicator of the company's expected growth and performance, said Shaikh. Most companies report an uptick in interest from innovators to hire their services and have embarked on aggressive capacity expansion. Syngene plans to boost its biologics manufacturing footprint in FY26 through its newly acquired US facility for $36.5 million. Divi's Laboratories is undertaking a ₹ 650-700 crore capacity expansion at its existing facilities, while Sai Life Sciences has completed the second phase of its Bidar Unit IV capacity expansion for small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates. On the back of this, the growth outlook remains strong. "Earnings are expected to be strong for export-oriented CDMOs for the next 2-3 years considering the capex projects and potential addition of new molecules,' Shrikant Akolkar, pharma equity research analyst at brokerage Nuvama, told Mint. However, the CDMO business is non-linear, Akolkar said, adding that one must pay attention to the annual performance and not a couple of quarters of number misses.
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Business Standard
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Nippon India MF, BlackRock, others buy 10% stake in Sai Life for ₹1,505 cr
Nippon India Mutual Fund, BlackRock, Societe Generale, Morgan Stanley and others on Friday collectively bought a 10 per cent stake in Sai Life Sciences from US-based asset manager TPG for Rs 1,505 crore through open market transactions. Besides, Axis Mutual Fund (MF), Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, Invesco MF, Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, German multinational Allianz's arm Pimco, Axis Max Life Insurance, HDFC MF, Ghisallo Master Fund LP, UTI MF, DSP MF were among the buyers of Sai Life Sciences shares. These entities picked up more than 2.08 crore equity shares or 10 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based Sai Life Sciences, as per the block deal data on the BSE. The transaction, valued at around Rs 1,504.75 crore, was executed at an average price of Rs 722 apiece. Meanwhile, Nippon India MF picked up 49.86 lakh shares or 2.39 per cent holding in Sai Life Sciences. After the stake buy, Nippon India MF's stake in the company rose to 4.88 per cent from 2.48 per cent. Meanwhile, global asset manager TPG through its affiliate TPG Asia VII SF offloaded the equal number of shares in 25 tranches at the same price. Following the stake sale, TPG's holding in Sai Life Sciences declined to 14.73 per cent from 24.73 per cent. Shares of Sai Life Sciences rose 5.03 per cent to close at Rs 765.85 apiece on the BSE. In December last year, Sai Life Sciences raised Rs 3,043 crore through its initial public offering and the shares of the company made a stellar debut on the bourses. Sai Life Sciences provides end-to-end services across the drug discovery, development and manufacturing value chain for small molecule new chemical entities (NCE) to global pharmaceutical innovator companies and biotechnology firms.
Economic Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
TPG offloads Rs 1,505 cr stake in Sai Life via block deals; Norges Bank, MFs step in
Global investor TPG sold its ₹1,505 crore stake in Sai Life Sciences via block deals at ₹722 per share. Key buyers included Norges Bank and top Indian mutual funds. The stock rallied 5% post-deal, reflecting robust investor appetite. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Global investment firm TPG offloaded stake worth Rs 1,505 crore in Sai Life Sciences through block deals on Friday, paving the way for a host of marquee investors to step in, including Norges Bank and leading Indian mutual sold over 2 crore shares in two tranches at Rs 722 per share, a price that reflected a 1% discount to Thursday's closing the key buyers, Norway's central bank, Norges Bank, acquired 11.5 lakh shares worth Rs 83 crore, signaling strong foreign institutional interest in the Indian pharmaceutical the domestic front, several top mutual funds participated in the transaction:-- Nippon India Mutual Fund bought over 40 lakh shares for Rs 290 crore,-- Invesco Mutual Fund acquired 13.5 lakh shares worth Rs 97.5 crore, and-- Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund picked up 13.85 lakh shares for Rs 100 appetite appeared strong, as shares of Sai Life Sciences rallied 5% to close at Rs 765.85 on the BSE following the block stake reshuffle highlights the growing confidence of both global and domestic institutional investors in Sai Life's long-term growth prospects amid the increasing relevance of India in the global pharma outsourcing held over 5.15 crore equity shares in the company as on March 31, 2025 through TPG Asia VII SF PTE Ltd, which accounts for a 24.73% stake in this smallcap company. The market capitalisation of the company is at Rs 15,230 crore. The stock of Sai Life Sciences was listed on the exchanges on December 18, stock has gained nearly 2% since its listing on December 18, 2024 and its returns on the year-to-date basis remain at 3%. This is an underperformance versus Nifty which has given returns of 6.6% and 5.7%, Life Sciences is a contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation (CRDMO) among listed Indian peers. The company has operations in the UK, the USA and company reported a 57% year-on-year profit in its Q4FY25 net profit at Rs 88 crore versus Rs 56 crore reported in the year ago period. The total revenue from operations in the January-March quarter of FY25 stood at Rs 589 crore, which was growth of 33% versus Rs 443 crore posted by the company in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial to Trendlyne data, shares of Sai Life Sciences are trading above its 50-day and 100-day simple moving averages (SMAs) of Rs 727 and Rs 715, stock has been quite volatile since the last 3 months. Its 1-year beta is at 1.4.
Time of India
20-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
TPG offloads Rs 1,505 cr stake in Sai Life via block deals; Norges Bank, MFs step in
Global investment firm TPG offloaded stake worth Rs 1,505 crore in Sai Life Sciences through block deals on Friday, paving the way for a host of marquee investors to step in, including Norges Bank and leading Indian mutual funds. TPG sold over 2 crore shares in two tranches at Rs 722 per share, a price that reflected a 1% discount to Thursday's closing price. Among the key buyers, Norway's central bank, Norges Bank, acquired 11.5 lakh shares worth Rs 83 crore, signaling strong foreign institutional interest in the Indian pharmaceutical sector. On the domestic front, several top mutual funds participated in the transaction: -- Nippon India Mutual Fund bought over 40 lakh shares for Rs 290 crore, -- Invesco Mutual Fund acquired 13.5 lakh shares worth Rs 97.5 crore, and -- Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund picked up 13.85 lakh shares for Rs 100 crore. Investor appetite appeared strong, as shares of Sai Life Sciences rallied 5% to close at Rs 765.85 on the BSE following the block deals. The stake reshuffle highlights the growing confidence of both global and domestic institutional investors in Sai Life's long-term growth prospects amid the increasing relevance of India in the global pharma outsourcing ecosystem. TPG held over 5.15 crore equity shares in the company as on March 31, 2025 through TPG Asia VII SF PTE Ltd, which accounts for a 24.73% stake in this smallcap company. The market capitalisation of the company is at Rs 15,230 crore. The stock of Sai Life Sciences was listed on the exchanges on December 18, 2024. The stock has gained nearly 2% since its listing on December 18, 2024 and its returns on the year-to-date basis remain at 3%. This is an underperformance versus Nifty which has given returns of 6.6% and 5.7%, respectively. Sai Life Sciences is a contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation (CRDMO) among listed Indian peers. The company has operations in the UK, the USA and Japan. The company reported a 57% year-on-year profit in its Q4FY25 net profit at Rs 88 crore versus Rs 56 crore reported in the year ago period. The total revenue from operations in the January-March quarter of FY25 stood at Rs 589 crore, which was growth of 33% versus Rs 443 crore posted by the company in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. According to Trendlyne data, shares of Sai Life Sciences are trading above its 50-day and 100-day simple moving averages (SMAs) of Rs 727 and Rs 715, respectively. The stock has been quite volatile since the last 3 months. Its 1-year beta is at 1.4.
Business Standard
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Sai Life Sciences rises on completion of second phase expansion at Bidar facility
Sai Life Sciences rose 1.82% to Rs 742.45 after the company announced the successful commencement of commercial operations for the second phase of the production block at its Unit IV facility in Bidar, Karnataka. The new phase, which became operational on 19 June 2025, adds approximately 91 kL of production capacity. This marks the second and final phase of the total planned capacity addition of approximately 195 kL at the facility, as disclosed in the companys prospectus. With this addition, the total installed capacity at Unit IV now stands at approximately 640 kL. The expanded facility is equipped to manufacture Registered Starting Materials (RSM), intermediates, and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) for both clinical and commercial applications. Hyderabad-based Sai Life Sciences is a leading global contract research, development, and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) that partners with innovator pharmaceutical and biotech companies to accelerate the discovery, development, and commercialization of new medicines. The company offers integrated solutions spanning medicinal chemistry, process development, clinical and commercial manufacturing, and advanced technology platforms. The company's net profit surged 105% to Rs 170 crore on a 16% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 1,695 crore in Q4 March 2025 over Q4 March 2024.
