TPG gets regulatory approval for stake buy in PharmEasy holding co

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday approved private equity firm TPG Growth’s proposal to acquire about 8% stake in PharmEasy holding company API Holdings.

The announcement, made on the antitrust regulator's social media pages, comes nearly a month after the growth capital arm of San Francisco, California-based private equity firm TPG Global approached the CCI on the matter. 

Commission approves acquisition of 8% (approx.) shareholding of API Holdings by TPG pic.twitter.com/2lg449oqgq

— CCI (@CCI_India) December 30, 2020

Email queries sent to PharmEasy co-founder Dhaval Shah on the size of the deal did not elicit a response at the time of publishing this report.

“API Holdings will use this financing to deepen its distribution network across India and build innovative technology-first products to connect the entire ecosystem and give affordable access to healthcare across India,” TPG had said in its proposal to the CCI.

This marks TPG Growth’s first India investment from its fifth fund, TPG Growth V SF Markets. The global firm’s earlier India investments include those in the retail and telecom arms of Reliance Industries, fantasy gaming platform Dream11, and omnichannel automobile servicing platform Pitstop.

As of late July, the Singapore registered fund looked to raise a target corpus of $4 billion, according to multiple reports citing documents from the Washington State Investment Board.

API Holdings was incorporated in 2019 to house the merged entity of PharmEasy, and Ascent Health and Wellness Solutions. PharmEasy is currently operated by 91Streets Media Technologies.

In June, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had approved a composite scheme of amalgamation filed by API Holdings.

The company carries out wholesale sale and distribution of drugs, transportation and delivery services, ecommerce and telemedicine platform operations, directly or through its subsidiaries.

In August, CCI approved Lightstone Fund’s stake acquisition proposal in 91Streets Media Technologies. 

In September, the CCI also approved PharmEasy’s proposal to acquire a 100% stake in rival startup Medlife. The merged entity operates under API Holdings. As part of the deal, Medlife promoters and shareholders received 19.59% equity in API Holdings.

Founded in 2015 by Shah and Dharmil Sheth, Mumbai-based PharmEasy connects patients with chemist shops. In its last known fundraise in 2019, the online pharmacy services provider secured $220 million from Temasek Holdings.