Piramal Enterprises To Sell Minority Stake In Pharma Biz

Piramal Enterprises is planning to sell a 20 percent stake in the pharma business to raise funds to pursue acquisitions in the sector in the first half of 2020.

“We are looking forward to doing more acquisitions whether it is in the domestic formulations area, the product area or more plants to add capabilities,” said Nandini Piramal, executive director, in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18.

The move is in line with the company’s plan to demerge the pharmaceutical and financial services businesses and eventually list onto the exchanges, added Nandini Piramal.

Speaking about interests in making acquisitions in domestic companies, she said, “As I look at it, we are looking for assets, so whether it is domestic formulations, I think there are some domestic companies that do want to divest domestic formulations so that would be very interesting.”

When asked if this is the right time for acquisitions in the pharma sector, chairman Ajay Piramal said the company has so far been successful in the large acquisitions it has made in the US, including products from Janssen and Mallinckrodt.

“We have not only been able to integrate them but we have also grown them. So I think this is the right time,” said Ajay Piramal.-Money Control