Strides, SeQuent, Solara: An Indian entrepreneur’s ingenious pharma spiderweb

Arun Kumar’s first public company has 51 subsidiaries. His second has 21. His third, and most recent, is also likely to follow suit. But there’s a method and Midas touch to the madness

Strides Pharma has shifted focus from Australia to the US. A less-than-ideal move at a time when big Indian pharma companies are battling pricing and regulatory pressures

Founder Arun Kumar, known for making frequent deals, is sticking to his playbook. Is it working?

Solara, Kumar’s third public company, is fully capitalised for a global platform play with TPG Growth

Some placeholder companies have been created; his family business has begun investing after a three-year hiatus. Kumar wants to do “more with less”

High capital allocations, low public relations. Long gestation businesses, short decision cycles. High absolute returns, low-to-nil asset attachment. This, in a nutshell, is Arun Kumar’s business philosophy. For someone who’s created three public pharma companies, incubated several smaller entities, and seals a new deal sooner than the ink on the previous one has dried, Kumar’s is an unusual wealth generation machine. One that is now being oiled for a different run.

Consider this: Bengaluru-based Strides Pharma Science Ltd grossed Rs 79.9 crore ($11.5 million) in profit (before tax) from continuing operations, but an eye-rolling Rs 625.8 crore ($90 million) profit from discontinued operations in the year ended March 2018.

AUTHOR

Seema Singh

Seema has over two decades of experience in journalism. Before starting The Ken, Seema wrote “Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech”, published by HarperCollins in May 2016. Prior to that, she was a senior editor and bureau chief for Bangalore with Forbes India, and before that she wrote for Mint. Seema has written for numerous international publications like IEEE-Spectrum, New Scientist, Cell and Newsweek. Seema is a Knight Science Journalism Fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a MacArthur Foundation Research Grantee.

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