KKR to buy Healthium Medtech for Rs 7000 cr from Apax
KKR is all set to acquire Healthium Medtech ( formerly Sutures India) from its current PE owners Apax Partners for Rs 7000 crore ($840 mn) enterprise value after a hotly contested three way race that also included a consortium of Mankind Pharma — ChrysCapital and Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholders of Danish drug major Novo Nordisk, said people aware.
KKR and Apax have signed the binding agreement for the acquisition of Bengaluru based Healthium Medtech and likely to make a formal announcement as early as Monday, the people mentioned above added. Healthium is the largest manufacturer of surgical needles globally by volume. Moneycontrol was the first to report on Saturday that KKR was the highest bidder for Healthium.
Another contender Mankind-ChrysCapital has offered a price of Rs6500 crore ($780 mn), said sources.
Apax owns 99.8% of the company with the rest 0.2% owned by Anish Bafna, the CEO & MD of Healthium Medtech. Healthium is the fourth largest surgical suture manufacturer in the world with a market share of about 18% in India. Bafna will continue to run the company under KKR.
When contacted, Apax Partners, KKR spokespersons declined to comment.
Earlier in 2022, Healthium Medtech had sold its UK-based subsidiary to KKR for an undisclosed amount. It had sold Watford-based Clinisupplies to KKR Health Care Strategic Growth Fund II.
Sutures India was originally set up in 1992 in Bengaluru by LG Chandrasekhar and S Subramanium, former executives with Smith & Nephew, and Johnson & Johnson.
In FY24,
