Having invested about $200 million in four acquisitions in the last 15 months, JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (JB Pharma), majority owned by private equity firm KKR, is scouting for more acquisitions to broad base its offerings as well as to grow its ranking in the Indian pharmaceutical sector.
“We are continuously looking for acquisitions. There must be strategic fit and assured returns within the payback period. We are not shying away from acquisitions,” said Nikhil Chopra, CEO & Wholetime Director, JB Pharma said.
“We have changed the entire go-to-market strategy and are looking for aggressive growth,” he added.
In October 2020, KKR picked up 54% stake in JB Pharma from the erstwhile promoters of the company for about $550 million and since then the company, under the leadership of Mr. ,Chopra and the management team, has embarked on high growth path.
The turnover, which was about ₹1,600 crore at the time of acquisition, has nearly doubled and the company’s revenue in the domestic market has increased from 45% of the total revenue to 55% now. The objective is to further increase this ratio, Mr. Chopra said.
Last year it unveiled its new corporate identity under the brand JB Pharma emphasising on people, products and potential.
The company now offers a wide variety of products and dosage forms across all therapeutic categories. It wants to further strengthen its offerings in the chronic disease segment, Mr. Chopra said.
“We are now the fastest growing pharmaceutical company in India Pharma Market for the 2nd consecutive financial year,” he said.
With brands like Rantac, Metrogyl and Cilacar touching millions of patient lives across the country, he said seven brands of the company now feature in the top 300 Indian pharmaceutical brands.
These include Rantac, Cilacar, Cilacar-T, Metrogyl, Nicardia, Azmarda and Sporlac. He said the company has onboarded over 1,500 people across businesses and geographies in the last 1 year and over 200 people have been promoted in FY23.
He said work-life balance provided by the company has led to increased productivity among employees. Mr. Chopra said that the company’s dedicated efforts towards women-centric initiatives had ensured that the women representation at JB has grown at 20.6% from 2019-20.
He said the company continuously develops innovative products for its big brands like Rantac OD, RD, Ranraft, Metrogyl ER, Metrogyl DG Gel, Nicardia XL, Sporlac EVA, Sporlac GG that caters to a wide patient profile in respective therapeutic categories.
Mr. Chopra said the company being a leader in hypertension management with Cilacar and Nicardia, thinks ‘Beyond the Pill’.
“We have strived towards improving patient support with You! our BP Right Karo campaign and BP Mitra focuses on enhancing public awareness about hypertension,” he said.
“With our heart failure brand, Azmarda, we have developed over 500 Heart Failure clinics in India focusing on improving awareness, diagnosis and accessibility to heart failure treatment options,” he added.
