Suven Pharma to merge with Cohance Lifesciences

Suven Pharmaceuticals on Thursday said it will merge with contract development and manufacturing organisation platform Cohance Lifesciences. The entities announced a proposed scheme of amalgamation for the purpose.

Upon the scheme becoming effective, all shareholders of Cohance will be issued 11 shares of Suven for every 295 shares held in the former, Suven Pharmaceuticals said in a statement.

The new shares of Suven will be traded on the NSE and BSE, it added. The transaction is expected to conclude over the next 12-15 months, subject to receipt of all relevant shareholder and regulatory approvals.

"This is a transformative step in Suven's journey of growth and building a respected integrated CDMO player," Suven Executive Chairman Annaswamy Vaidheesh said. In December 2022, Suven Pharmaceuticals promoter Jasti family offloaded a 50.1 per cent stake in the company to global private equity investor Advent International.

In 2022, Advent launched Cohance Lifesciences, a new brand identity for its API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) and CDMO (contract development and manufacturing company) platform.

Now, Advent entities will hold 66.7 per cent and the public shareholders will own 33.3 per cent of the combined entity, the entities said. The platform comprises Advent's three portfolio companies - RA Chem Pharma, ZCL Chemicals and Avra Laboratories.