Cohance Lifesciences to merge with Suven Pharmaceuticals

New Delhi: Suven Pharmaceuticals and Cohance Lifesciences have announced a proposed scheme of amalgamation for the merger of Cohance with Suven.

Merger shall establish Suven’s position as a diversified CDMO and API leader in India, transcending its current revenue base. The merged entity is expected to be amongst leading integrated CDMO players in India. With an expanded capacity to ~2,650 kL and a significantly broadened customer base, scale and synergy benefits are substantial.

Cohance is a leading CDMO and Merchant API platform with global leadership in select low-mid volume molecules as well as unique capabilities in the form of its antibody drug conjugates (ADC) platform. Their CDMO segment has grown at healthy CAGR of 30%+ over FY20-23 and contributes ~44% to its Gross Profits for 9mFY24.

On the proposed merger, Annaswamy Vaidheesh, Executive Chairman, Suven said, “This is a transformative step in Suven’s journey of growth and building a respected integrated CDMO player. We are extremely excited about the benefits of combined scale, capabilities, complementary customer base and best practices that will further help enhance our leadership position in India and globally”.

Commenting on the proposed merger, Dr V Prasada Raju, Managing Director, Suven, said, “Our entire management team, spanning Suven and Cohance, is enthusiastic about shaping the future of the Pharmaceutical & Specialty Chemical landscape. The combination helps us drive multiple synergies both on revenue and cost front.”

Stating about the proposed merger, Shweta Jalan, Board Member, Suven and Managing Partner & Head of Advent International in India, said, “This merger represents our continued commitment to build a leading CDMO player in India, driven by innovation, growth, and value creation. Drawing inspiration from global peers with similar end-to-end capabilities, we are confident in our ability to scale globally”.

Commenting on the proposed merger, Pankaj Patwari, Board Member, Suven and Managing Director, Advent International said, “We are just starting on the integrated CDMO journey and are quite excited to build a global leader in the space. With this combination, we will have a solid base for each of our three engines and we will invest behind each one of them, both organically & inorganically, thereby consolidating the CDMO space”.

Upon the scheme becoming effective, all shareholders of Cohance will be issued shares of Suven at the ratio of 11 shares of Suven for every 295 shares of Cohance, based on the swap ratio. The new shares of Suven so issued will be traded on the NSE and BSE. Advent entities shall own ~66.7% and the public shareholders will hold ~33.3% of the combined entity (pre- ESOP dilution).

The overall transaction is expected to conclude over next 12-15 months subject to receipt of all relevant shareholder and regulatory approvals.