Gland Pharma IPO To Open On 9 Nov; Price Band Announced

The initial public offering (IPO) of Gland Pharma is set to be open from 9 November to 11 November. The Hyderabad-based company has fixed the price band at Rs 1,490-1,500 per share for what will be the largest pharma IPO in the country.

At the higher price band, it aims to raise Rs 6,479.54 crore, which beats Eris Lifesciences' IPO, currently the largest pharma IPO, which raised Rs 1,741 crore in 2017.

The issue includes a fresh issue of shares amounting to up to Rs 1,250 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of more than 3.4 crore shares. The OFS includes 1.94 crore shares by China's Fosun Pharma Industrial Pte Ltd, 1 crore shares by Gland Celsus Bio Chemicals Pvt Ltd, 35.73 lakh shares by Empower Discretionary Trust and 18.74 lakh shares by Nilay Discretionary Trust.

Applicants can bid in lots of 10 equity shares and multiples of 10 shares.

Proceeds of the IPO will be used to meet the company's working capital requirements.

Experts say that while pharma theme is in demand this year due to COVID-19, negative sentiments still prevail towards China. Fosun Pharma Industrial, a leading pharmaceutical company from Shanghai, holds a majority stake of 74 percent stake in Gland Pharma.

Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup, Haitong Securities and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities are the book running lead managers to the IPO.

Gland Pharma reported a revenue of Rs 2,772 crore for the year ended 31 March 2020.