Akums Drugs likely to launch IPO next year: Report

Contract manufacturing drug firm Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals is planning to launch an IPO next year. According to a report by Moneycontrol, the pharma company is in talks with four investment banks to prepare for a listing in 2024.

In April this year, Akums' top executives had told Mint that they were working towards a stock market listing in two to three years. Joint managing director Sanjeev Jain at Akums told Mint in an interview, "We are planning an initial public offering (IPO) in a span of 2-3 years".

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However, as per the latest report by Moneycontrol, Akums is planning to debut in the Indian stock market in 2024.

Citing sources, the news website said Akums has picked ICICI Securities, Citi, Axis Capital, and Ambit for the proposed IPO.

It is unclear what would be the size of the IPO but a source told Moneycontrol that the issue would be a minimum of ₹1,500 - ₹2,000 crore.

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Incorporated in 2004, Akums is backed by Quadria Capital, a leading healthcare-focused Asian private equity firm. Recently, the foreign investor exited Concord Biotech by selling its entire 20% stake when the latter made a healthy market debut on the domestic bourses in August.

Akums has a manufacturing share of more than 12.5% of the total drugs consumed in India, a rating agency said.

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Akums has 11 manufacturing facilities for its formulations manufacturing along with two API manufacturing facilities.

According to consolidated financial numbers available on Edge, Akums clocked ₹3,677.2 crore of net sales in FY22 and incurred losses of rs 250.8 crore.

The company plans to more than double net sales in the next five years and plans to achieve it through expansion beyond India to countries in Europe and other regions, Jain told Mint in an interview in April.

The company, which currently has over 1,400 clients across the pharma, nutraceutical, and FMCG sectors, is also focusing on growing its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) vertical as well as nutraceuticals, injectables, and another product pipeline to fuel the next round of growth.