HYDERABAD: Multi-sector investment company IQuest Enterprises has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) operations of global pharmaceutical major Viatris in India after emerging as the preferred investor in a global competitive bid.
The operations include six large-scale API manufacturing facilities, three each in Vizag and Hyderabad, and an R&D facility in Hyderabad.
A significant part of the team at IQuest Enterprises was involved with some of the present facilities when it was operating as part of Matrix Labs, which was divested to Mylan in 2006.
Four years later, in 2020 Mylan was merged with another entity and renamed Viatris. This acquisition will also mark the return of Nimmagadda Prasad to the pharma industry after a 17-year hiatus.
“We are excited about our largest investment in the pharmaceutical sector to date. The move comes at an opportune time when India is drawing the attention of the global pharma industry.
It is also a happy homecoming, in more ways than one, for some of us who have been part of the journey over the last two decades,” said Gunupati Swathi Reddy, executive director, of IQuest Enterprises. Swati is the daughter of Prasad.
iQuest Enterprises’ investments include AIG Hospitals, CARE Hospitals, and Celon Laboratories.
Prasad, chief advisor and patron of iQuest Enterprises, has been a serial entrepreneur having developed significant businesses to scale and creating enhanced shareholder value.
Some of these businesses include Matrix Laboratories (divested in 2006), CARE Hospitals (divested in 2012), and Maa TV (divested in 2015), a release said here on Monday.
