Torrent Pharmaceutical In Talks With Apollo To Raise Fund For Cipla Bid: Report Apollo is considering purchasing a small part of the Cipla founding family's stake but a final decision will depend on how talks progress with Torrent

Torrent Pharmaceutical is in preliminary talks with Apollo Global Management to secure a loan of up to $1 billion to help fund a planned bid for Cipla, according to a Reuters report, citing two people aware of the discussion.

"Torrent is hoping to secure roughly $3 billion to $4 billion in financing for the bid for its much bigger rival. The company has also been in talks with CVC Capital Partners and Bain Capital who might become equity partners in a consortium and contribute as much as a combined $1.5 billion to the deal," they reportedly said.

Cipla's founding family is keen to sell their 33.4% holding, sources said, and a bid for that amount would also trigger an open offer for another 26% as per Indian regulations, adding that Blackstone is also interested in bidding for Cipla.

Apollo is considering purchasing a small part of the Cipla founding family's stake but a final decision will depend on how talks progress with Torrent. Apollo is "quite bullish on their Asia strategy, and India in particular…both Cipla and Torrent have strong balance sheets," the report quoted one of the sources.

Apollo, one of the prominent asset managers, claimed to be managed $438 billion in credit and $101 billion in private equity as of March 2023, whereas, Cipla, which has a market cap of some $12 billion, is known for making the anti-allergy drug Cetirizine and generic versions of respiratory drugs Advair and Albuterol.