BDA advises Flex and Escientia Life Sciences on sale of Escientia to Deccan Fine Chemicals

BDA Partners is pleased to announce that its clients, Flex Ltd (Nasdaq: FLEX) and Escientia Life Sciences, have sold a controlling stake in Escientia to Deccan Fine Chemicals, a specialty chemicals manufacturer, based in Hyderabad, India. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Escientia has operations in both the US and India. Escientia is a fast-growing pharmaceutical CDMO (contract development & manufacturing organization) for leading life sciences companies. Escientia focuses on developing and making complex APIs (active pharma ingredients) for human and animal health applications. Founded in 2007 by senior executives from large, innovative American pharma companies, with experience across drug discovery, development, and commercialization, Escientia has been a key partner in 120 drug development/manufacturing projects, many of which have become commercialized therapeutics.

The selling shareholder is Flex, a provider of technology, manufacturing, and supply chain solutions, which partnered with Escientia on the design and construction of Escientia’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Visakhapatnam, India and R&D labs in Hyderabad, India. Flex has been a strong partner to Escientia for eight years. BDA Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Flex and Escientia on the transaction. 

Deccan Fine Chemicals, based in Hyderabad, is a leading manufacturer of active ingredients and advanced intermediates for agchem, fine and specialty chemicals. Deccan will bring synergies to Escientia, providing key starting intermediates and combining R&D and sourcing. Escientia will enable Deccan to become a significant player in the pharma sector.

GS Raju, Managing Director, Deccan said: “We’re excited to be partnering with Escientia and believe that our combined offering of cGMP and Pre-GMP manufacturing coupled with our process development competence and technology toolbox, will establish us as a leading partner for the pharma industry. Deccan has been actively looking at participating in the pharma CMO space. We’re very happy that we found Escientia, whose focus on innovator customers and ultra-modern manufacturing matches our business model.”

Euan Rellie, Senior Managing Director, BDA said: “We’re proud to have worked for Flex and the Pendri family, and to have secured the optimal partner for Escientia going forward. This is a timely transaction. Covid-19 has created considerable opportunities for the US and Indian pharma supply chains.”

Andrew Huntley, Senior Managing Director and Head of Healthcare, BDA, said: “This important CDMO transaction builds on BDA’s strong record in the outsourced life science services space. It’s a fragmented sector which is seeing significant growth in Asia, with both corporates and sponsor-backed players chasing consolidation opportunities.”