Advent International to acquire 50.1% stake in Suven Pharma, explore merger

Private equity major Advent International will buy a 50.1% stake in Suven Pharmaceuticals Ltd from its promoter Jasti family and consider merging it with a peer in its portfolio, the Indian drugmaker said on Monday.

Suven said Advent would make an additional open offer for up to 26% of the voting share capital held by public shareholders at a price of 495 rupees per share. Shares rose as much as 4.8% to 520 rupees in early trading.

The Hyderabad-based company also said Advent intends to explore merging Suven with its wholly owned Cohance Lifesciences to build a company that specializes in active pharmaceutical ingredients as well as contract development and manufacturing businesses.

"(Advent's) experience and resources will launch the next phase of growth for Suven... It will help us offer a broader set of services," Suven Managing Director Venkateswarlu Jasti said in a statement.

As of last close, Suven had a market capitalization of 126 billion Indian rupees ($1.52 billion) with promoter Jasti Property and Equity Holdings Private Ltd owning 60% of the shares, according to data from Refinitiv.

($1 = 82.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)