New Delhi: Mankind Pharmafourth largest pharmaceutical company In domestic marketis looking for mergers and acquisition, In-licensing deals To boost its domestic branded formulations business, companyA top executive of said. The company is evaluating assets ranging from brands to product portfolios and even large properties.

“We want products with high entry barriers, the (acquired) unit should have a chronic angle, consumer (healthcare) touch, and it should be margin accretive,” Rajeev JunejaManaging Director of Mankind Pharma said in an interview to At,

Mankind could have a potential war chest of up to ₹20,000 crore from a combination of debt and equity. Mankind’s board last month approved a ₹7,500 crore equity fund raise, and also raised the borrowing limit to ₹12,500 crore. The company has a net cash balance of ₹3,260 crore and negligible debt as of March 31, 2024. “We prefer to go it alone acquisitionThis way, we can fit the (acquired) entity strategically,” Juneja said, adding that the domestic drugmaker has acquired domestic formulation businesses in the past Panacea Biotech for ₹1,900 crore in 2022. It also acquired baby soap brand Daffy and anti-asthma brand Combihale dr reddy’s,

Juneja said both the previous acquisitions have worked well for Mannkind, giving it entry into new therapeutic areas such as transplant, urology and respiratory. Juneja said sometimes valuation expectations in the pharma sector are unrealistic.

“On paper you can say anything, you can say the valuation is in thousands of crores of rupees but in reality there should be some truth in it,” he said.

He said, “When a thorough investigation is carried out, we come to know the real thing. What is hidden behind that facade.”

ET had earlier reported that Mankind Pharma and Chris Capital Surgical supplies company Healthium was in the race to acquire Medtech, which is owned by private equity firm Apax Partners. The company was later bought by KKR for ₹7,000 crore.

ET had also reported that Mankind was among the companies in the race to buy Mumbai-based biopharma firm Bharat Serums & Vaccines (BSV) from PE firm Advent and JB Pharma from KKR. Mankind had termed these reports as speculative.

In-licensing deals to bring in innovative products is another area of priority for the company, Juneja said.

MannKind has in-licensing agreements with Novartis for heart failure therapy Neptaz. In May, 2024, it signed a licensing agreement with Novartis. AstraZeneca To distribute inhaled corticosteroid drug Symbicort in India. Indian pharmaceutical companies are using in-licensing to sell and distribute innovative drugs of multinational companies in the Indian market. They pay royalty on sales. Multinational companies use in-licensing to increase the reach of their products in the Indian market with the help of pan-India sales network of local companies.

Juneja said they will soon announce another licensing deal for a new therapy in cardiac care. “They (in-licensed products) contribute less than 1 per cent to revenues, but they help get a top-notch doctor to the door,” Juneja said.

Mankind’s IPO in May 2023 was successful, listing at a 20 per cent premium. Mankind’s revenue in FY24 was ₹10,335 crore and profit was ₹1,942 crore. Domestic revenue was 92 per cent of total revenue.

As part of its next growth phase, MannKind is focusing on the following: Long-term therapy and in metro cities, which means realigning the sales strategy to focus on specialists. It is also looking at premiumisation of products for better margins. It manufactures about 75 per cent of the products it sells and is spending more on R&D.