Piramal divests its DRG Business for $950 million

Piramal announced that PEL DRG, a subsidiary of PEL and the holding company for Decision Resources Group (DRG) engaged in healthcare insights and analytics business, has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of DRG to Clarivate Analytics, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics, for a sale consideration of $950 Million (includes $900 million on closing and $50 million to be received at the end of 12 months from the date of closing). This transaction is subject to shareholder approval and is expected to be completed by end February, 2020.

PEL had initially invested US$650 Million in 2012 to acquire DRG out of which $260 Mn was infused as equity. It has realized 2.3x its initial equity investment in INR terms.

Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group said, “We are pleased to have grown DRG’s market leadership over the last few years and believe that through this combination, Clarivate, with its size and scale, is well positioned to further accelerate DRG’s growth potential. This transaction demonstrates our continued commitment to create sustained long term value for all stakeholders.”

He further added, “Along with the ongoing equity capital raise in PEL, this transaction not only further strengthens the company’s balance sheet but also marks another step towards significantly unlocking value in future.”

Jerre Stead, Executive Chairman and CEO, Clarivate Analytics said, “This is a milestone acquisition which doubles the size of our Life Sciences business, is accretive to our 2020 earnings and sets us up as an essential, end-to-end, industry-leading data and analytics provider in the highly attractive Life Sciences ecosystem. Both companies have a great heritage – built on talented people with deep industry subject matter and technical expertise. Together, we look forward to unlocking the tremendous potential of a unified team.”

Vivek Sharma, CEO, DRG said, “I am excited for this acquisition as it creates an even more powerful platform for DRG’s AI and analytics-enabled solutions to support our customers in their quest to improve patient health outcomes. This new and expanded platform will further empower our employees to continue their focus on customer centricity and collaborative innovation with our customers.”

“The addition of DRG’s services and solutions to our portfolio supports our focus on creating exceptional customer value through delivering highly specialized analytics and expert insights and a wider range of Life Sciences solutions that help solve their most difficult challenges when discovering, developing and commercializing new drugs, medical devices and technologies. The acquisition also means that by combining expertise, data and technologies, Clarivate will be able to pursue significant growth opportunities through new product development and deeper market penetration driven by offering them a broader portfolio of tools and services,” said Mukhtar Ahmed, President – Science Group, Clarivate Analytics.

DRG, the high-value data, analytics and insights business of the Piramal Group, specialises in enabling the world’s leading pharma, biotech and medical technology companies to achieve commercial success in complex health markets with the creation of effective patient-centric commercial strategies.

With this acquisition, the over $5Bn Clarivate will be well positioned in the $19 billion Life Sciences analytics market, which is enjoying double-digit growth, to support customers across the entire drug, device and medical technology lifecycle from research to outcome. It will offer a one-stop-shop for Life Sciences customers, helping them to improve the commercialization of life-changing therapies.