Goldman Sachs invests in Aragen Life Sciences

Aragen Life Sciences ("Aragen"), formerly known as GVK Biosciences and a leading contract research organization (CRO), announced today that Goldman Sachs, an active investor in India, has taken a significant minority stake in the company by acquiring shares previously held by ChrysCapital and other existing shareholders.

Aragen is a leading provider of outsourced discovery, development, and manufacturing services across both large and small molecule platforms. The company serves a worldwide customer base which spans to the United States, Europe, and Japan. Aragen has demonstrated strong organic growth on the back of deep domain expertise, strong global delivery capabilities, and partnerships with global biopharmaceutical and biotech clients.

"We believe this new investment at this important juncture in our company's development underscores the tremendous opportunity ahead. Working with Goldman Sachs, we are well-positioned to address the opportunities in front of us to become a leading, global player with comprehensive end-to-end solutions for drug discovery and development," said Manni Kantipudi, CEO of Aragen Life Sciences. "For more than five years, ChrysCapital has been a trusted investment partner. Following their successful exit, we are pleased to now enter a new phase in our continued evolution."

"Aragen is well positioned to benefit from the secular trend of increased outsourcing by the life sciences industry. With a clear value creation plan in place, we look forward to closely working with the management and shareholders of Aragen," said Rajat Sood, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "Goldman Sachs is actively seeking to invest and foster leading, national champions of India who are building companies of a global scale."

"As an experienced global investor in the healthcare sector and India, we look forward to leveraging our worldwide network and experience to help expand Aragen's portfolio of differentiated offerings and client base to accelerate the company's growth." said Michael Bruun, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Raghav Ramdev, Managing Director at ChrysCapital said, "We are proud to have seen Aragen grow and scale from providing discovery services to successfully expand into development and manufacturing, as well as biologics. It has evolved into an industry leader with a strong base of innovator clients."

Goldman Sachs is an active investor in India, deploying more than $3.6 billion in capital since 2006. Previous investments in Indian healthcare include Biocon Biologics, BPL Medical Technologies, CyteCare Hospitals, Max India and Nova Medical Centers.

Jefferies, Dimensions, and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co advised company, existing shareholders and ChrysCapital. Trilegal, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Deloitte advised Goldman Sachs.

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( With inputs from ANI )

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