Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. will demerge its R&D into a separate company early in March. The partner, likely a pharma MNC with interest in drug discovery, will have at least 10% equity in the research unit, said a senior executive, preferring anonymity.The research company, which will be known as Piramal Life Sciences Ltd, is valued at about $500 million (Rs2,025 crore) by financial and equity research firms such as Lehman Brothers, Enam Securities Pvt. Ltd and Kotak Securities Ltd.
The promoters will dilute around 10% in Piramal Life Sciences to the partner, “but it will happen only after the company gets listed on the stock exchanges, because we will have an absolute valuation only then”,said Nicholas Piramal chairman Ajay Piramal.
The new unit’s valuation is predominantly based on three new drugs under advanced development in the company’s discovery portfolio. Nicholas has one cancer drug that has almost cleared early-stage, or phase I, trials in Canada and some other international markets. It has two anti-inflammation molecules in advanced development stages.
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