Serum Institute of Life Sciences to invest additional $150 million in Biocon arm

• Serum Institute of Life Sciences had invested $150 million in Biocon Biologics in November 2022.
• As per their new arrangement, Biocon Biologics will have access to 100 million doses of vaccines, annually.
• Biocon Biologics will also get distribution rights to Serum’s Vaccine portfolio.

The Serum Institute of Life Sciences said on Tuesday that it will invest another $150 million in Biocon Biologics. This is its second investment into the company, as it had invested $150 million in November 2022.

As per the new arrangement, Biocon Biologics will have access to 100 million doses of vaccines annually. It will also receive the distribution rights to Serum’s vaccine portfolio which will add to Biocon Biologics’ product portfolio, for global markets.

Serum Institute of Life Sciences is a unit of Serum Institute of India, the country’s largest vaccine maker. Biocon Biologics is a subsidiary of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw run Biocon.

Biocon Biologics and Serum Institute of Life Sciences agreed to withdraw their original deal announced in September 2021, and have announced a new transaction instead.

“Biocon Biologics Limited (BBL) and Serum Institute of Life Sciences (SILS) have reached an agreement to withdraw from the original equity structure contemplated under their Strategic Alliance announced in September 2021,” said Biocon in an exchange filing.

“As per the new terms of the strategic alliance, Serum Life Sciences would make an additional equity investment of $150 million through the conversion of the $150 million loan provided to Biocon Pharma Limited, a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Biocon Limited, into equity in BBL,” said the release.

For the merger, Biocon has received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Karnataka. Serum Life Sciences is awaiting approval from the NCLT in Maharashtra. After this, Serum Life Sciences will become a stakeholder in Biocon.

The filing did not mention the did not mention the amount of stake Serum would hold in Biocon Biologics under the new agreement. As per the September 2021 deal, it had offered a 15% stake in Biocon Biologics to Serum Institute of Life Sciences.

In the past few years, Biocon Biologics has received investments from four investors including Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, Goldman Sachs, Tata Capital Growth Fund and Indian PE True North.

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