Private equity giant KKR is in “advanced” discussions to acquire a stake in New Delhi-based SRL Diagnostics, sources told Bloomberg. The deal could value SRL at about 50 billion rupees ($775 million).
SRL, which bills itself as the largest diagnostics company in India, is being spun off from Fortis Healthcare, one of India’s largest private hospital chains, Bloomberg reported last month. Fortis has been in talks with other private equity players, including TPG and Bain Capital, Bloomberg said.
While discussions between SRL and KKR are ongoing, it’s not a done deal, said people familiar with the matter, as quoted by Bloomberg.
SRL operates 356 laboratories, including large labs in Dubai, Sri Lanka and Nepal. It has more than 5,000 collection points, with 69 of them in countries outside India, according to the company.
It offers prognostic, diagnostic and monitoring services to other pathology labs, hospitals and patients, and also serves pharma companies and CROs carrying out clinical trials.
In January last year, KKR and Panasonic—of which KKR holds an 80% stake—closed their $1.1 billion acquisition Bayer’s diabetes unit and rebranded the company as Ascensia Diabetes. As for diagnostics, KKR invested $35 million in Signostics, which specializes in miniaturized, hand-held ultrasound devices for use at the point of care.
By Amirah Al Idrus
Source: Fierce Biotech
CureVac and the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced a co-development and licensing agreement to develop novel messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based cancer vaccines. The strategic collaboration will focus on the development of differentiated cancer vaccine candidates in selected haematological and solid tumour indications with high unmet medical needs.
FUJIFILM Corporation is planning to invest $1.2 billion to expand the planned FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. This news follows the organisation’s announcement of a $2 billion investment in the facility in March 2021. This additional financial boost totals the investment to over $3.2 billion, FUJIFILM confirmed.
Sanofi’s global restructuring and downsizing is now fully underway, with layoffs stretching to the company’s Belgian offices. Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports that 67 employees have been laid off at a site in Ghent and 32 jobs are on the chopping block at Sanofi’s Belgium HQ in Diegem.
