Bain, Carlyle among 4 PEs in race to buy Sutures for $425 mn
MUMBAI: Private equity (PE) funds Bain Capital LP, Swiss fund Partners Group AG, Advent International Corp and Carlyle Group are in the race to acquire surgical equipment maker Sutures India Pvt. Ltd in a deal worth about $425 million (₹2,740 crore), two people aware of the development said.
The deal will value Sutures at $500 million (₹3,220 crore), said the first person, requesting anonymity.
TPG Growth owns around 73% in Sutures India, while another PE fund CX Partners holds 12%. The rest is held by promoters.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc is advising TPG on the sale.
While the PE investors will make a complete exit, the promoters plan to retain their stake, said the second person on condition of anonymity.
Bengaluru-based Sutures, which makes surgical and wound-closure products such as natural and synthetic, absorbable and non-absorbable sutures, surgical needles, staples, tapes and bone wax, competes with firms such as Smith and Nephew Plc, Ethicon Inc and ConvaTec.
TPG Growth invested in Sutures in 2013 by acquiring a 23% stake from CX Partners and the firm’s promoters for Rs145 crore.
Over time, TPG raised its stake and now holds a majority in Sutures.
Spokespersons for Partners Group, Carlyle, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Emails sent to Sutures India, Advent and CX Partners and TPG Capital remained unanswered.
Founded in 1992, Sutures exports products to 91 countries in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. It also supplies to over 10,000 hospitals across India.
CX Partners has been looking for a complete exit from Sutures since last year. Last year, domestic private equity fund Kedaara Capital had emerged as the frontrunner for acquiring CX Partners’ remaining stake in Sutures India, Mint had reported in April 2016. The deal did not go through. Besides Kedaara, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd had evinced interest in Sutures India.
CX Partners had acquired a 37% stake in Sutures for about ₹200 crore in 2012 by buying out the entire stake held by India Life Sciences Fund, which fell to 12% in the next two years.