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
A monkeypox outbreak is emerging in the U.S. and Europe, and at least one country is amping up countermeasure preparedness. Bavarian Nordic has secured a contract with an unnamed European country to supply its smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in Europe, in response to the emergence of monkeypox cases, the Danish company said Thursday.
Moderna’s recent chief financial officer debacle—in which Jorge Gomez departed on his second day on the job—raised questions about the company’s hiring process given its rush to global biopharma prominence. The most obvious one: How was it possible for Gomez to be hired when he was under investigation by his previous employer, Dentsply Sirona of Charlotte, N.C.
Merck & Co. is plucking a cancer project from the branch of Chinese-based Kelun Pharmaceutical for up to $1.4 billion, but details from the New Jersey-based Big Pharma have been hard to come by. The deal, first disclosed Monday on the Shenzhen stock exchange, has Merck handing over $47 million in upfront cash in exchange for ex-China rights to a “macromolecular tumor project.”
