PharmEasy | Business Upturn

Ashneer Grover criticizes PharmEasy’s plan to raise $300 million, calls it ‘The end’

Adesh Dixit — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 16:11:52 +0000

Entrepreneur and Former BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover has been vocal about his share of criticism towards PharmEasy’s plan to raise $300 million. The former judge in the popular reality show Shark Tank India has asserted that the development to rise funds would mean “The end” for the stakeholders.

He said that a ‘down round’ with a combination of ‘anti-dilutive clause’ would result in “sudden death” of the founders.

PharmEasy is aiming to raise $300 million in the latest round of funding when it is facing a whopping 90% market down. Ashneer in his tweet explained, “Anti-dilutive clause will kick-in, meaning VC investors who invested in the company at more than Rs 5 per share ever will get more shares so their holding cost comes to Rs 5 per share. Simply even last round VC investors who invested at Rs 55 per share will get 10x more shares for free so their holding comes to rs 5 per share. Everyone BUT the founders and employees!”

As per a TechCrunch report, PharmEasy is in talks to raise new capital in order to pay their lender Goldman Sachs. The company previously borrowed close to $285 million to close off their earlier debts in 2022. This lead to Thyrocare owning majority stake in PharmEasy at $600 million.

Ashneer Grover further warned, “Founders plus ESOP holding will become 0.001% of some similar faction! Debt taken in 2021 will turn out to be the most expensive capital raised by the founders ever”.

SEBI approves PharmEasy parent, API Holdings for Rs 6,250 crore IPO

Himanshu Mishra — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:05:49 +0000

The strong propulsion of India’s initial public offering (IPO) market is predicted to go on as the market regulator authorized draft papers for three more companies. These firms that got the green flag were API Holdings Ltd, the parent of online pharmacy PharmEasy, Wellness Forever Medicare Ltd and CMR Green Technologies Ltd.

API Holdings documented draft papers with SEBI in November 2021 to lift Rs 6,250 crore via an IPO. The income from the issue will be used to repay debt, fund organic and inorganic expansion opportunities via acquisitions and other strategic endeavours. The founders and the investors are not trading shares in the IPO.

API Holdings is also analyzing the option of a pre-IPO fundraise via private sequence to the tune of Rs 1,250 crore. If the pre-IPO round is done, it will decrease to the amount from the IPO issue size, the DRHP announced.

However, SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018 require every issuer, being an unregistered firm and was of making an initial public offer and a listed firm voracious of making a rights issue for a value exceeding Rs. 50 crore on a public offer, to file a draft request document with SEBI through a merchant banker(s). The merchant banker(s) correspond with SEBI on behalf of the issuer.

PharmEasy to file DRHP with SEBI in October to raise funds by IPO: Report

Vandana Nampoothiri — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 07:01:53 +0000

Online pharmacy store PharmEasy is set to file draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by October, sources close to the matter told The Economic Times.

Earlier this month, it was reported that PharmEasy was aiming to raise $9 billion through the IPO. In July, SoftBank Group was in talks with PharmEasy’s parent company API Holding’s for investment. According to sources, the discussion did not materialize.

“That hasn’t materialised and both parties are unlikely to go back to the deal table. SoftBank is not taking it ahead,” sources said.

“They are looking to submit IPO papers by October and then list in the next couple of months. It may spill over to next year, but the aim is to list before the end of the current financial year,” sources told The Economic Times.

“PharmEasy wants to set a new valuation benchmark before the IPO,” another person added.

The pharmacy store is in talks with investors to raise $200 to 300 million at a valuation of $5.6 billion, sources said.

PharmEasy was founded in 2015 by Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah. The store currently delivers medicines in 1,000 cities and offers diagnostic services in all major cities and towns. In May 2021, PharmEasy acquired Medlife, becoming the largest online pharmacy in the country. In June API Holdings Ltd bought a 4,546 crore worth stake in Thyrocare Technologies.

PharmEasy aims to raise $9 billion via IPO

Vandana Nampoothiri — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 06:07:53 +0000

Online pharmacy store PharmEasy aims to raise $9 billion through an initial public offering (IPO), sources close to the matter told LiveMint.

The money will be raised by PharmEasy’s parent company API Holdings Ltd, by selling new shares, according to the sources. None of the existing shareholders, including the investors and founders, will sell their share, sources told.

“The entire proceeds of the listing will be used to pursue growth opportunities,” one of the sources told LiveMint.

“The company plans to make more acquisitions shortly and has been on the lookout for suitable targets that match its long-term objectives,” they further added.

Proses Ventures, TPG Growth, CDPQ and Temasek are among PharmEasy’s top investors. Investors’ decision not to sell their shares indicates their confidence in the company’s growth potential.

According to a report by consultant EY, the e-pharma space is estimated to grow at an annual average growth rate of 18.1% to reach $18.1 billion by 2023.

PharmEasy looks forward to acquiring 66.1% stake in Thyrocare for Rs 4,546 crore

Faara Nadeem — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 16:42:57 +0000

PharmEasy, an online medical store made its decision public on June 25. It looks forward to acquiring 66.1 per cent stake in Thyrocare, a diagnostics services chain Technologies Ltd for 4,546 crore rupees.

According to an official statement the parent company of PharmEasy, API Holdings Ltd (API) announced the “signing of definitive documents to acquire 66.1 per cent stake in Thyrocare from Dr A Velumani and affiliates at a price of Rs 1,300 per share aggregating to Rs 4,546 crore.”

The official statement further added that the founder of Thyrocare, Dr A Velumani will be separately acquiring a minority non-controlling stake. It’ll be of less than 5 per cent in API Holdings as part of a series of equity investments by existing and new investors of API.

Dr Velumani would be investing Rs 1500 crore and hold 4.9 per cent stake in API, a CNBC TV 18 report noted.

Thyrocare lacks a succession plan which can be noted as an important reason for Dr Velumani to sell the company at a time when valuations are rewarding. Moneycontrol was made aware of this by sources privy to the development.

PharmEasy also said while referring to the deal that the rationale is to “create one stop shop for end-to-end healthcare solutions.” The company shared that it is sufficiently funded to acquire Thyrocare with present cash and commitments.