Latest news with #SudhirMenon
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Torrent Pharma set to finalise JB Chemicals buyout in 15-18 months
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Ahmedabad-based drug maker Torrent Pharmaceuticals will complete its acquisition of JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals in the next 15-18 months subject to key regulatory approvals, a top company executive said in an investor call on Monday.'CCI ( Competition Commission of India ) approval will take 4-5 months and is expected by mid-December. Then there will be a one-month process to complete the minimum tender offer and consummate the transaction. Then the merger process starts that will take about 12 months,' said Sudhir Menon, CFO and executive director – finance, Torrent acquisition will be mainly debt funded, he said. 'The leverage required for the transaction is looking quite comfortable from a servicing point of view,' said Menon. 'However, we will see if equity mix is required at all.' Torrent is looking at a cost of borrowing of less than 8%.It plans to repay its debt within two and a half years of taking control of JB Chemicals.'If FY27 I am between 1.8x to 2.8x (net debt/EBITDA), let's take a mid-number of 2.5, then I should be able to repay the debt in maybe 2.5 years' time. It's quite comfortable for me,' said also added there is no immediate need to tap its approved QIP company will acquire 46.39% equity stake (on a fully diluted basis) of JB Pharma through a share purchase agreement for Rs 11,917 crores at Rs 1,600 per will trigger a mandatory open offer to acquire up to 26% of JB Pharma shares from public shareholders at an open offer price of Rs 1,639.18 per share, according to an investor presentation from has also expressed its intent to acquire up to 2.80% of equity shares from employees of JB Chemicals at transaction Chemicals shareholders will get 51 equity shares of Torrent for every 100 equity shares of JB Chemicals. Aman Mehta , whole time director, Torrent Pharma, said the acquisition is aligned to the company's strategic vision of deepening its presence in the Indian pharmaceutical market 'It expands our presence in some high growth segments and gives us a resilient platform to drive long-term growth,' he told analysts on Monday.'Additionally, it provides us with a new avenue of growth in the CDMO segment . We find this space to be attractive, and JB has a strong right to win with a successful track record in this space,' he said the US, Russia and South Africa markets will be of particular interest in the CDMO space. 'They are the most important regions outside India in the CDMO segment where we intend to have a greater presence through the acquisition,' he the India business, JB Chemical's strong capability in areas such as cardiac and gastroenterology will be complementary therapies to Torrent, while the deal also opens new therapy segments for Torrent in areas such as ophthalmology, IVF and nephrology.'The enhanced prescription footprint is positive for our overall reach and will help enhance trade visibility,' said far as impact on leadership and people post the merger, Menon said a proper retention plan will be put in place for key people. 'I believe continuity will exist,' he said.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Foreign banks offer Torrent ₹20,000 cr credit line for JB Chemicals buyout
The Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical firm plans to draw down the facility depending on the subscription to its upcoming open offer, the person said, requesting anonymity Mumbai The Torrent group has secured a credit line of up to ₹20,000 crore from a consortium of international lenders, including HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Barclays, to fund its proposed acquisition of JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical firm plans to draw down the facility depending on the subscription to its upcoming open offer, the person said, requesting anonymity. The interest rate on the credit line has been set at a competitive 8 per cent, the person added. Sudhir Menon, chief financial officer at Torrent Pharmaceuticals, told analysts that the
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Back-Office Opportunity That AI Can Help Unlock
Sudhir Menon is Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at I still remember the day my dad brought home a small card with holes in it. He said to me, a sixth grader at the time, 'This is a punch card, and it holds a program that can do a month's work of 15 accountants in under 3 hours with fewer mistakes. This is the future and while I don't see a role for me, it might be right for you.' My dad was an accountant, and that day, he had that haunted look of someone who had seen something that made him both scared and excited. Computerization, as it was called back then, was a game changer. While sadly, my dad had no role as software-driven accounting swept through the organization, that wave would drive my career in software. Similarly today, we're at the edge of a disruption that feels just as profound—generative AI (Gen AI) and its ability to generate code, in various languages and do it efficiently and with a degree of accuracy. Google, for example, recently announced that about 25% of its code is AI-generated—a staggering number that signals a new era for how enterprises function, especially in back-office operations. Globally, businesses spend over $400 billion on back-office operations, often under the umbrella of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Consider these stats: • The BPO market is projected to reach $414.81 billion in revenue by 2025, reflecting its significant role in organizational operations. • Back-office expenses typically account for 15% to 25% of a company's total operating costs, varying by industry and company size. • Fortune 500 companies reportedly lose an estimated $480 billion annually to inefficiencies, much of it tied to back-office processes. Despite its importance, the back office is often an afterthought—built piecemeal and propped up by loyal employees and aging tech. Back-office functions like accounting, HR, sales ops, compliance and data management have historically been labor-intensive and error-prone, difficult to scale, costly to maintain and built on disconnected legacy systems. Previous transformation efforts have been grueling—starting with months-long feasibility studies and culminating in bespoke solutions that take years to build and are obsolete by the time they launch. Leadership turnover, regulatory shifts and business pivots often send companies back to square one. Generative AI has radically shortened the time it takes to build digital solutions—turning months of work into days. Unlike traditional low-code tools, Gen AI generates full, complex systems without limiting flexibility. As frontier models improve, their ability to generate accurate, sophisticated code will only accelerate. But code generation is just part of the story. Gen AI also understands unstructured data, turning it into structured formats that can power workflows and natural language queries—solving one of the biggest obstacles in back-office automation. Combined, these advances enable enterprises to automate processes end-to-end in ways that were never possible before. First, traditional back-office automation struggled because enterprise systems were never designed to talk to each other. Data had to be manually transformed just to move between systems. Now, Gen AI can query these systems in natural language, generate code to convert and map data, and make it immediately usable—removing a major barrier to automation. Second, business owners—who know the processes best—have never been able to directly translate that knowledge into working systems. Gen AI changes this by turning plain English descriptions into executable workflows with built-in guardrails, bridging the gap between business and technology. Third, even with a process mapped out, companies still needed to write code to connect all the endpoints—like pulling data from Salesforce and updating SAP—something that required months of development. Gen AI can now generate that integration code instantly, eliminating another major roadblock. Importantly, IT still plays a critical role in ensuring solutions are secure, compliant and deployable, but no longer has to get stuck in the weeds of process implementation. The promise of Gen AI is real, but leaders should approach back-office transformation with a clear-eyed view of what's required. Well-structured data is essential and without it, even the most advanced models struggle. Enterprises also need to establish governance frameworks that prevent model sprawl, manage prompt quality and ensure outputs meet security and compliance standards. There are also cost and complexity tradeoffs. Gen AI systems require ongoing tuning, infrastructure investment, and close collaboration between business and technical teams. It's also easy to underestimate how quickly processes evolve and how brittle AI-generated systems can become without proper oversight. The best implementations start with high-friction workflows, deliver value fast and create a feedback loop that builds trust across the organization. Looking ahead, as Gen AI continues to improve, we can expect code generation to handle even more complex business logic, systems to become more autonomous in maintenance and evolution, and applications that self-optimize based on how they're used. Enterprises will also avoid costly legacy system overhauls, since Gen AI allows them to innovate around existing systems rather than rip and replace them. For organizations that embrace Gen AI now, these benefits could add up to major competitive advantages—greater agility, lower costs and stronger operational efficiency. However, it's important to stay vigilant and plan strategically. As adoption grows, this could be the first big financial win of AI's enterprise era. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
