Quadria Capital, one of Asia’s largest healthcare-focused private equity firms, has sold a 10% stake in Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals as part of its initial public offering.

The IPO, which closed on August 1, was one of the largest pharmaceutical IPOs in the last five years in India and received overall subscription of close to 63x, with the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers subscribed more than 90x. Quadria's investment has generated a 3x return.

The anchor book saw participation from marquee investors such as Smallcap World Fund, BlackRock, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HSBC Global, SBI Mutual Fund, DSP India Fund, Neuberger Berman, Carmignac, and Loomis Sayles.

The transaction, through which Quadria will retain a 5% stake in Akums, represents the firm’s second exit from a pharmaceuticals company through public markets, following its exit from biopharmaceutical company Concord Biotech in August 2023.

Established in 2004, Akums is the largest Indian market-focused pharmaceutical contract manufacturing company, offering a comprehensive range of pharmaceutical products and services in India and overseas. Akums has recently entered into the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) segment and has a presence in domestic and export formulations.

Akums has 15 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and four R&D centres that serve over 1,500 customers across the pharmaceuticals, API, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and derma segments.

Quadria’s investment in Akums in November 2019 was driven by its early conviction in the pharmaceutical outsourcing segment, Akums’ dominant position in the domestic contract manufacturing space and ability to provide a proxy to the broader Indian branded formulations market.

During the course of Quadria’s investment, Akums has more than doubled its sales as a result of strong organic growth, significant capacity expansion, and focus on innovation. Through Quadria’s partnership, Akums has also strengthened its ESG management systems and processes over time and has taken steps to manage its environmental sustainability by focusing on energy management, waste management, and water management initiatives.

“We are thrilled to see Akums emerge as a publicly listed company and are proud of the journey we have shared over the past several years,” Quadria Capital partner Sunil Thakur says.

“Our partnership has been built on a shared vision to expand access to high-quality healthcare products, and it has been a great privilege to support the company’s growth and expansion. We have full confidence in Akums management’s ability to continue achieving sustained growth, and we wish them success as they embark on this new chapter.”