Anthem Biosciences banking on China plus one, innovation platforms to unlock growth

Contract research, development and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) Anthem Biosciences, which will launch its ₹3,395 crore initial public offering (IPO) next week, is banking on geopolitical tailwinds as global pharma companies move away from China, to unlock value and growth, the company’s management told Mint in an interview on Wednesday.

“The good news is that…China is a behemoth. So we have that much headroom to grow,” Ajay Bhardwaj, managing director and chief executive officer, said. “At this point, I believe that we are at a very good inflection point,” said Bhardwaj, adding that the company had seen an increase in requests for proposals (RFPs) from global pharma companies.

Additionally, the company has 16 projects in late-phase development that will be commercialized soon. “We have a significant opportunity for cashing in on this growth,” said Bhardwaj.

Anthem helps global pharma companies with everything from early drug research to final development and launch of new medicines.

Anthem Biosciences will open its ₹3,395 crore IPO for public subscription from 14 July to 16 July, with anchor investor bidding to be held on 11 July. The offering is entirely an offer-for-sale (OFS), with no fresh shares being issued. The entire proceeds will go to existing promoters and shareholders selling their stake.

Promotor shareholding in the company is 76.88% pre-offer. The company will reduce this to 74.6% to comply with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regulations, it said.

The price band has been fixed at ₹540 to ₹570 per share, with a face value of ₹2 each.

At the upper end of the band, the company's valuation would be over ₹31,800 crore.

“Competition for everybody in India is Chinese companies…they are taking a bulk of the business,” said Bhardwaj.

Currently, India accounts for less than 5% of the global CRDM market, which is dominated by the US, Europe and China, according to Crisil Ratings research.

China has the scale, said Bhardwaj. “You have to compete with innovation. So, that is what we made the difference in,” he added.

Anthem works with new chemical entities as well as biologics and has the platform capabilities to work on RNAi, antibody drug conjugates , peptides, lipids and oligonucleotides. It also manufactures speciality ingredients such as probiotics and nutritional actives for India and the rest of the world markets.

The company is also focused on increasing its manufacturing capabilities by expanding capacity in one of its two existing units and setting up two new units.

In FY25, Anthem’s revenue grew 30% year-on-year to ₹1,844 crore, while profit after tax rose to ₹451 crore, up 23% compared to the previous year. The company had an Ebitda margin of 36.81% in FY25.