Anthem Biosciences files DRHP for Rs. 3,395 crore IPO

Anthem Biosciences Limited, an innovation-driven and technology-focused Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO) with fully integrated operations spanning across drug discovery, development and manufacturing has filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with capital markets regulator, SEBI to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO). 

The IPO of the Bangalore based company comprises an Offer for Sale (OFS) of equity shares aggregating up to Rs. 3,395 crores by the Selling Shareholders. 

Ajay Bhardwaj (Chairman, MD & CEO), Ishaan Bhardwaj (Vice President), Ganesh Sambasivam (Executive Director), and K Ravindra Chandrappa (Executive Director) are the Promoters of the company. 

The OFS comprises of Euity Shares aggregating up to Rs. 350 crores each by Ganesh Sambasivam and K Ravindra Chandrappa (Promoter Selling Shareholders); Equity Shares aggregating up to Rs. 1,325 crores by Viridity Tone LLP and up to Rs. 320 crores by Portsmouth Technologies LLC (Investor Selling Shareholders);

And Equity Shares aggregating up to Rs. 320 crores each by Malay J Barua, Rupesh N Kinekar, Satish Sharma, up to Rs. 80 crores by Prakash Kariabettan and up to Rs. 10 crores by K Ramakrishnan (Other Selling Shareholders). 

The company which was incorporated in 2006, has two operational manufacturing facilities in India, Unit I (Bommassandra) and Unit II (Harohalli), both in Karnataka, with an aggregate annual custom synthesis capacity and fermentation capacity of 270 kL and 142 kL, respectively, as of September 30, 2024. The third manufacturing facility – Unit III in Harohalli is under construction and is expected to be fully operational in the first half of 2025. 

Anthem’s business comprises of CRDMO services and the manufacture and sale of Specialty Ingredients. It offers a comprehensive, integrated and highly customizable range of CRDMO services across the New Chemical Entity (NCE) and New Biological Entity (NBE) lifecycles. It has a strong presence across various modalities, such as RNAi, ADC, peptides, lipids and oligonucleotides, and manufacturing techniques, such as flow chemistry, enzymatic processes, biocatalysis and fermentation, offering a broad range of technology capabilities for drug development. 

It also manufactures and sells complex specialized fermentation-based Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), including probiotics, enzymes, peptides, nutritional actives, vitamin analogues and biosimilars. 

Its revenue from operations increased by 34.3% to Rs. 1,419 crores in Fiscal 2024 from Rs. 1,056 crores in Fiscal 2023. The PAT for the year ended March 31, 2024 was Rs. 367 crores.

 Sai Life Sciences Limited, Syngene International Limited, Suven Life Sciences Limited and Divi’s Laboratories Limited are the listed peers of Anthem Biosciences as per its DRHP. 

The Book Running Lead Managers to the offer are JM Financial Limited, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, J.P. Morgan India Private Limited and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited.

The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.