Eric Lifesciences' Rs 1300 crore IPO process to kick-start soon

Eric Lifesciences' sales professional turned entrepreneur, Amit Bakshi, has hired three investment banks for a mega IPO worth USD 300 million. The proposed initial public offering could be the biggest such offering in the pharma space, even thumping Alkem Laboratories' IPO last year.

Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Axis Capital were mandated to carry out the share sale process for the company.

Eris Lifesciences is focused on the high margin super-specialty niches in the country's rapidly expanding market for chronic lifestyle ailments, and has no export market, and therefore no export revenue.

The proposed IPO will provide an exit to ChrysCapital, which had invested about Rs 160 crore in Eris in 2011 for a 16.25 per cent stake.

Eris plans to get listed on the bourses in the first half of next calendar through an offer for sale (OFS) as ChrysCapital mulls a full exit, and promoters are considering a small stake sale.

The plan to exit Eris Lifesciences through an IPO comes at a time when public markets have shown a strong appetite for IPOs of pharma and healthcare firms in the recent years. IPO markets give the PE investors a perfect platform to exit.

Private equity exits from pharmaceuticals and healthcare sector have seen a surge in the last year according to data from VCCEdge. However, fresh investment in the sector has remained more or less flat.