ICICI Venture sells 10 pc equity stake in Biocon

MUMBAI: ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Ltd, the private equity fund of ICICI Bank, has sold its 10 per cent stake in the Bangalore-based Biocon India Ltd to Gary Wendt Capital and American International, a biotechnology firm, for a consideration of Rs 46 crore.
Valuation of the the Rs 285-crore company is pegged at Rs 460 crore. Confirming the development, ICICI Venture MD and CEO Renuka Ramnath said, "We are very happy with the way the Biocon investment has turned out for us."
The investment of $4 million in 2000 has made ICICI Venture richer, with an investment rate of return of 32 per cent in 30 months.On the role of the ICICI fund, Ramnath said, an early stage investor would bring in the benefits of high involvement and industry knowledge, whereas a later stage investor would help in right financial restructuring, raising new funds in the capital market. It will focus its investments on retail and media and has investments in Shoppers Stop and Living Media-promoted Aaj Tak.
Promoted by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon is engaged in the area of enzymes and biochemicals. It has two subsidiaries — Clinigene and Syngene.
Biocon which has decided to invest over Rs 500 crore on its expansion plans over the next two years, is in the final stages to raise the debt capital of $30 million from domestic and foreign institutions.
The money will be used to fund the expansion of its facilities for Statin (a molecule, research and biological and monclonal anti-body.)
It has recorded a profit of Rs 50 crore on a revenue of Rs 285 crore in the last fiscal and is aiming a revenue of Rs 520 crore and profit of Rs 120 crore during 2003-04.