Strides Pharma Science Limited, with no successors to take the company forward, is at crossroads as promoters are planning to exit. With their plan to exit the company, it is learnt that the company may get transferred to a clutch of investors.
“The company is expected to be transferred to a clutch of investors as the promoters are looking to exit for personal reasons,” said a veteran pharma specialist, who did not want to be identified.
People in the pharma industry further confirmed that ever since co-promoter KR Ravishankar fell ill, since then, the entire mantle to run the company has fallen on Arun Kumar - Founder and Promoter Director of the company.
While Ravishankar comes from the pharmaceutical business. Kumar started as an entrepreneur, and then joined Strides as a co-promoter.
“Now with the families of promoters not getting involved nor having groomed anyone to run the company, there has been talks of promoters exiting the company, when the things are going well,” said the veteran pharma specialist.
Both Kumar, Ravishankar and few others own close to 30 per cent in the company. So far, Kumar has successfully taken the company forward.
When contacted, the Strides Pharma spokesperson said: “On succession and stake sale, We do not comment on market speculation as a matter of policy.”
Vaccine facility
In another development, the company is going ahead with its plans to build a vaccine facility that is expected to be completed by January 2021.
Kumar told analysts that the company’s vaccine project is being built at record speed. “We are on schedule to go on stream in January 2021. Just to be clear that the last time we mentioned 60 million vials which is approximately 500 million doses of liquid vaccines and 300 million of lyophilized vaccines, just for better clarity, we moved that to doses.”
Also read: Strides Pharma gets USFDA nod for generic Oxybutynin Chloride tablets
He further said “We are in discussions with global companies to partner for manufacturing vaccines but we are obviously very selective about that partnership, and we are waiting for the right partner who is already at an advanced stage of having completed phase-I before we take in those licensing.”