Piramal, Cadila among 32 companies in race to buy Sharon Bio-Medicine

Piramal Pharma, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Shamrock Pharmachemi and ACG Associated Capsules are among the 32 entities in the fray to acquire Sharon Bio-Medicine, which is undergoing a second round of insolvency proceedings, said three people aware of the development. The successful bidder in the first round - Peter Beck und Partner Vermoegensverwaltung (PBP) - had failed to implement the resolution plan for the Maharashtra-based pharma firm, following which the lenders restarted the process.

Lenders to Sharon Bio-Medicine, hoping to recover 40% of the dues, have extended the last date of submitting a resolution plan to August 22, one of the persons cited above said. Some fund houses, including iLabs India Special Situations Fund, Edelweiss Alternative Assets Advisors, Capri Global Holdings, ACRE India, JM Financial Assets Reconstruction Company and Alpha Alternatives Holdings, have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs), one of the persons cited earlier said. In June this year, lenders had appointed EY-backed Pulkit Gupta as the resolution professional of Sharon Bio-Medicine.

He replaced EY-backed Dinkar T Venkatasubramanian, who was the RP since April 2017, when it was admitted for insolvency proceedings. Email queries sent to RP, Piramal Group, Cadila and Shamrock remained unanswered till as of press time. Tirupati Medicare, Pure & Cure Healthcare, Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Windlas Biotech, Synokem Pharmaceuticals, Bal Pharma and United Biotech are some of the other companies that have submitted EoIs.

The first successful bidder, PBP, had offered ₹230 crore to secured creditors against verified claims of ₹702 crore, equating to a 33% recovery. The ₹230-crore plan involved ₹10 crore as immediate payment, ₹190 crore over ten years and ₹30 crore in the form of preference shares, which would be redeemed after seven years. PBP had suggested that the ₹189-crore debt of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) would be converted into equity.