Veeda Clinical Research files DRHP for Rs 831 crore IPO. Find out more

Veeda Clinical Research Ltd has filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to launch an initial public offering (IPO).

The clinical research company’s IPO will consist of a fresh issue of shares worth up to Rs 331.60 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 500 crore by its promoters and investors.

The company’s promoter, Basil Pvt. Ltd, will sell shares worth Rs 141.93 crore. Other selling shareholders include Bondway Investment Inc., which is offloading shares worth Rs 259.77 crore, Arabelle Financial Services Ltd (Rs 90.19 crore) and private equity firm CX Partners.

The company intends to use the fresh capital to repay debt, fund its capex, finance acquisitions by its subsidiary Bioneeds, fund its working capital requirements and meet expenses towards general corporate purposes.

The IPO filing comes a few months after the Ahmedabad-based company raised about Rs 118 crore from PE firm Sabre Partners and several affluent individuals, including Pranab Mody of JB Chemicals, Nikhil Vora of Sixth Sense Ventures, Arjun Bhartia of Jubilant Group as well as Havells India’s family office.

Veeda Clinical’s business and financials

The company is one of the largest independent full-service clinical research organisations (CRO) in India in terms of revenue, according to a Frost & Sullivan report.

It offers a broad range of services across most aspects of the drug development and drug-launch value chain throughout global markets, including North America, Europe and Asia. The company specialises in the focused segment of Bio Availability/Bio Equivalence (BA/BE) studies.

The company has grown from a single facility in 2004 to four facilities today and has the capability to process 1 lakh samples per month.

As of March 2021, Veeda had conducted more than 3,500 trials and developed more than 1,000 bio-analytical methods across generics. It has also completed 85 global inspections with regulatory authorities such as the US Food and Drug Administration, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and the World Health Organization.

In 2020-21, it completed studies for 157 clients. Some of its prominent customers include Dr Reddy’s Labs, Mankind Pharma, Granules India and Novugen Pharma.

To support its capabilities and offer clinical services for novel drugs, Veeda acquired a 50.1% stake in Bengaluru-based Bioneeds India. It had acquired a minority stake in the company between March and July 2021.

The company’s consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 195.81 crore for the year ended March 2021. This is down from Rs 218.44 crore for 2018-19.

Its profit after tax for 2020-21 came in at Rs 62.97 crore, up from Rs 44.16 crore two years before.