Strides Pharma to buy 54 percent stake in SteriScience for Rs 135 crore

This will make SteriScience the company''s dedicated arm for global sterile injectables business, Strides Pharma Science said in a filing to the BSE.

The investment in SteriScience will allow Strides to leverage its expertise and experience in the high-value injectables business. SteriScience is designed for a global foray in sterile injectables leveraging the group''s rich experience in the domain, it added.

"Strides and the family office of promoters will partner to infuse capital into SteriScience. The partners will also transfer their current sterile injectable-related assets and Intellectual Property (IP) to the platform at cost," the filing said.

The business will require a total investment of Rs 400 crore (Rs 250 crore equity and Rs 1,50 crore debt) until it achieves an operational break-even in the next 24 months, it added.

The partners will invest this amount in proportion to their ownership. Strides will contribute Rs 135 crore for around 54 percent ownership, while the family office of the promoters will make the remaining investments, Strides said.

The money will be invested for development of portfolio of SteriScience and its joint venture with Brooks for Carbapenems, it added.

SteriScience has started the development activity for over 20 quick to launch products and expects the first abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) filing to be achieved within 2020-21, it added.

SteriScience has also entered into a joint venture with Brooks Laboratories Ltd for building a robust antibiotic agents carbapenem business with integrated manufacturing capabilities, Strides said.

Shares of Strides Pharma Science were trading at Rs 674.20 per scrip on the BSE, down 1.71 percent from its previous close.

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