KKR & Co LP, the private equity firm, had agreed to pay out USD150 million for nearly 30% of India's Gland Pharma Ltd. This was confirmed by two sources with direct knowledge of the transaction.
The formalized deal would be announced in the next few weeks and would be the buyout firm's eighth investment in Asia this year. This was confirmed by one of the sources with Reuters last Friday. For the main protagonists, KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar declined to make any comment on the matter. Gland Pharma Vice Chairman Ravi Penmetsa was not available to make a comment on the said news report.
KKR, which is based out of New York, had invested nearly USD 1 billion in Asian companies in locations such as China, Japan, India and Vietnam in the past month. Last July, KKR had raised a record of USD6 billion Asia fund, whose purpose is to deply more capital in emerging markets as economic slowdowns had cut overall company valuations.
The deal would be the second largest investment by KKR in India in the past six months. Last April, it purchased the controlling stake in Alliance Tire Group from fellow buyout firm Warburg Pincys LLC for nearly USD500 million.
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