Eris Lifesciences acquires Biocon Biologics India branded formulation business for Rs 1242 crore

Mumbai: Eris Lifesciences Ltd., a branded formulations company, has announced the acquisition of Biocon Biologics' India branded formulation business for a consideration of INR 1,242 crore thereby jumpstarting its entry into the INR 30,000+ crore injectables market in India and Insulins segment.

The acquisition brings two major insulin brands – Basalog and Insugen – into the Eris fold. These are the largest Indian brands in their respective segments with market shares of over 10%.

With this acquisition, Eris’s Diabetes care franchise will soon reach INR 1,000 crore in revenue and become the 5th largest diabetes portfolio in India. This acquisition will also mark Eris’ entry into Oncology and Critical Care.

Eris has signed a 10-year supply agreement with Biocon Biologics Ltd. as part of this deal. Under this agreement, the Biocon product range will continue to be manufactured and supplied to Eris for commercialization in India. This acquisition also provides immediate synergies with the recently acquired Swiss Parenterals business. The Biocon product range can be quickly scaled up by leveraging the product portfolio of Swiss, which consists of 240+ unique molecules. The combination of the two deals also provides margin expansion opportunities through insourcing/ technology transfer of manufacturing to Swiss’ facilities.

Commenting on the acquisition, Amit Bakshi, Chairman & Managing Director of Eris Lifesciences Ltd., said, “We consider it an honour and privilege to enter into this long-term collaboration with Biocon which is an organisation known for its remarkable pedigree and its pioneering efforts in the Biosimilars space in terms of innovation, product quality and interchangeability. We believe that we will be able to build on their success and take this franchise to new heights. This deal, combined with the acquisition of Swiss Parenterals that we announced last month will turbocharge our entry into the INR 30,000+ crore India Branded Injectables market and pave the way for our next INR 1,000 crore vertical in the next 3-4 years. Over the last 2 years we have added a number of strategic growth engines to our portfolio and now we have all the building blocks in place to be able to achieve our target of Rs. 5,000 crore revenue over the next 3-4 years.”

The scope of the acquisition includes Biocon’s Insulin, Critical Care and Oncology portfolios. Over 435 employees (including 325+ MRs) are expected to transition from Biocon to Eris pursuant to the deal. The deal will be funded through debt financing.The transaction is expected to achieve financial closure before 15th April 2024

Eris Lifesciences Ltd. is a publicly listed Indian pharma company and is a leading player in the domestic branded formulations market. The Company is a fully integrated business with WHO GMP manufacturing facilities in Guwahati and Gujarat that cater to ≈70% of its revenue and a panIndia distribution network of over 2,000 stockists 5,00,000+ chemists. Its revenues have grown 4x in the last 10 years (since FY13) and net profits have grown ~ 6x in the last 10 years. The company has maintained an ROIC in excess of ~ 30% for 13 consecutive years till FY22. Seventeen years into the business, the company retains its fundamental strengths in terms of a chronic and sub-chronic focused brand portfolio (87% of sales) with low (7%) NLEM exposure, high mind-share and prescription ranks with super-specialists (#5 among Diabetologists and Cardiologists) and strong cash.