India Life Sciences Fund II to be launched by March

Currently at advanced stage of discussion with a pharma company to invest from second fund

Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund (EILSF) II, a fund focused on investing in the life sciences space in India, is expected to be launched by March 2013.

The first fund - Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund of $100 million - is exhausted and was invested across eight companies.
"The second fund, India Life Sciences Fund II which is slightly bigger than the first fund at $150 million, is currently in the pipeline. We are ready to start investing from the second fund by the first quarter of next calendar year," Hari Buggana, managing director of InvAscent – the investment advisor of Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund, told Business Standard.

"Currently, we are in the advanced stage discussion with a pharma company to invest from the second fund, which is likely to happen by March,"

EILSF, the Mauritius-based PE (private equity) fund which was established in 2006, invested in eight companies including five pharma companies, two healthcare and one med-tech company since operation. Its investments include d Rs 35 crore in Sutures India Private Limited, Rs 25 crore in Chennai-based Anjan Drugs, Health Care Global and Gland Pharma. In December last year, EILSF acquired 21.05% stake in Thane-based Fermenta Biotech for Rs 40 crore.

The second fund will provide growth capital to established and mid-sized companies in pharmaceutical, medical device, biopharmaceutical, contract R&D, and medical services segments. "We expect to deploy the second fund in similar number of companies over the next three years," he said.

India is emerging as one of the global champions in providing low-cost, high-quality hospitals. Unlike, IT companies, India itself is a huge untapped market for the healthcare and pharma companies.

"Currently, India has about 1-1.2 beds per 10,000 people, while China has four beds and US has seven beds. To improve the healthcare infrastructure in India where China is today, India will require about $50 billion funding," he said.

"The private equity landscape will continue to grow in India, as the market is still niche. Compared to that private equity across all the sectors is still a drop in the bucket in India," he added.