GE Capital, the financial services division of US-listed industrial conglomerate General Electric, has agreed to pay R125 crore ($23m) for a 7.69% stake in Syngene International, a research subsidiary of India-based biotechnology company Biocon. Biocon had been preparing to float Syngene, which has annual sales of R400 crore last year, but will make an initial public offering (IPO) after GE’s investment. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairwoman of Biocon, said the deal gave Syngene a $300m valuation and added: “GE Capital’s investment in Syngene is a validation of our research services business model, which has delivered consistent value to our partners as well as other stakeholders. This [investment] takes us closer to our commitment of taking Syngene through an IPO at the most opportune time.” Allegro Corporate Finance Advisors and law firm Mundkur Law Partners helped Biocon on the deal. Syngene has 1,500 scientists working in a 1 million square foot building on research and development from companies as healthcare companies look to outsource part of their work. Separately, the UK state-backed Medical Research Council (MRC) will invest $11m to fund academic research projects finding new uses for 15 of Anglo-Swedish drugs group AstraZeneca’s shelved therapeutics. Patrick Johnston, chair of the MRC’s translational research group, said:  “Thanks to the generosity of AstraZeneca, UK scientists will be able to carry out medical research that otherwise may never have been possible. “Not only will this bring benefits for patients in the form of more effective medicines and a better understanding of disease, but it has also allowed academic researchers to forge new partnerships with industry, which will give rise to future collaboration across the life sciences sector.”  AstraZeneca will hold on to its existing intellectual property on the drugs, while the academic institutions involved in the new work gain the rights to any new research findings.

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