Set up in 1969 by Sami Khatib as Medley Laboratories, the Mumbai-based privately held company, now called Medley Pharmaceuticals, ranks among the top 40 pharmaceutical companies in India, as per research firm ORG IMS.
Medley employs over 3,000 people, of which about 2,200 are part of the sales force.
Cipla, KKR-owned JB Chemicals and Torrent Pharmaceuticals are in the final race for acquiring Medley Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth around ₹4,500 crore, said people aware of the development. Half a dozen bids were in for Medley, including bids from 2-3 private equity funds. However, the pharma majors offered a higher price, in the range of ₹4,500 crore, and have made the cut following the non-binding bid submissions, said the people. Cipla is the most aggressive in its pursuit, said one of them.
Emails sent to Cipla, Medley, Torrent and JB Chemicals did not elicit any response till press time on Monday. Kotak Mahindra Capital is advising Medley's promoters.
Set up in 1969 by Sami Khatib as Medley Laboratories, the Mumbai-based privately held company, now called Medley Pharmaceuticals, ranks among the top 40 pharmaceutical companies in India, as per research firm ORG IMS. Its specialties include hematinics, anti-ulcerants, anti-bacterials, pain management, gynaecology & cardiovascular drugs. With a specialisation in iron preparations, the top brand of Medley is the RB Tone syrup. Other top-selling brands include Dompan (domperidone & pantoprazole), O2 (ornidazole & ofloxacin), Tazocef (tazobactam & ceftriaxone) & Ostium k2 (Vitamin K27 combination in India)
RB Tone and O2 feature among the top 300 pharma brands in India, as per ORG IMS survey. RB Tone is the second largest selling drug in the haematinic segment, while O2 is the top-selling drug in the anti-diarrhoeal segment.
Medley employs over 3,000 people, of which about 2,200 are part of the sales force. There are around 700 associates working in its corporate & manufacturing operations across India and another 100 in international business. Revenue is estimated to have grown 16% to ₹926 crore in FY22, from ₹800 crore the year before, backed by increased contribution from acute segment (about 53% of overall sales) and rest from the chronic segment.
