Vardhman Health Specialities India Is Now Part Of The Aknamed Group

* The combined entity will be a boon in transforming and building India’s largest Healthcare Supply chain platform

* The transaction enables Aknamed to further promote excellence in delivery of healthcare essentials, with an enhanced pan-India footprint with leadership in therapeutic areas such as oncology, immunotherapy and virology

* Boosted by additional investment by existing investor of Aknamed- Lightrock, part of LGT Group (a global private banking and asset management firm with over $250B assets under management), accelerating the successful completion of the transaction

* This is the 3rd addition to the Aknamed Group in last 12 months, scaling its business to ~$200M in annualized revenues

* Aknamed aims to widen its footprint to 35 locations with the ability to serve over 500 cities and towns by end of 2021

Aknamed (Akna Medical Pvt. Ltd.), India’s largest tech-enabled hospital-focused supply chain platform announced the successful transaction with Vardhman Health Specialties (Vardhman), one of the largest specialty products provider to hospitals with expertise in therapeutic areas such as oncology, immunotherapy and virology. The integrated organization with the strong proficiency in hospital focused distribution, will work towards transforming and building India’s largest healthcare supply chain platform.

The transaction marks the 3rd addition to the Aknamed Group in last 12 months, scaling the business to $200M in annualized revenues. Over the next 2 years, Aknamed is aiming to invest significant additional capital to fuel the group’s organic and inorganic growth plans, while continuing to invest in people, technology and infrastructure. In fact, by the end of the current year, Aknamed will be present in 35 locations with the ability to serve over 500 cities and towns. 

Mr. Naresh Chowhan, CEO of Vardhman spelling out the motivation for the transaction, remarked “We are extremely pleased in partnering with Aknamed. This partnership underlines the growing importance of consolidation in the pharma supply chain industry in India. It opens up significantly larger opportunities, apart from the synergies derived from the combined businesses of Vardhman and Aknamed. The improved value proposition for our clients and stakeholders will allow us to serve them better. The combination propels us to an unequivocal leadership position to tap the large growth potential of the Indian market.”  

Commenting on the completion of the deal, Mr. Saurabh Pandey, Founder and CEO, Aknamed, said, “We are delighted to welcome Vardhman as part of the Aknamed Group. The vision of Aknamed has always been on delivering excellence in customer service, transparent business processes and practices with all stakeholders and developing exceptional technology based supply chain processes in niche and therapeutic areas. Our vision and goal have resonated very well with the Vardhman team as their business has been built on the similar values over the years. The focus is now to provide a top-notch supply chain service to the hospitals across country.”

Sharing his views on the completion of the transaction, Mahadevan (Mahad) Narayanamoni, Co-Founder & Chairman, Aknamed, said, “I am excited about the combination of Aknamed and Vardhman as it will solve a significant number of procurement challenges, and will broaden the horizon of healthcare supply chain in India. We also thank the continued support and guidance from our financial partners, Lightrock from LGT Group. We remain strongly committed in our endeavour to make a meaningful contribution to the digital health aspirations of hospitals in the country.”

Deloitte Corporate Finance were the exclusive financial advisors to Vardhman on the transaction.

ABOUT VARDHMAN

Vardhman Health Specialities (Vardhman), led by Jayantilal Chowhan (Founder & Chairman), Naresh Chowhan (Co-Founder & CEO) and Kalpesh Chowhan (Director), pioneered the distribution of specialty pharmaceutical products across India which are primarily used in therapies such as Oncology, Nephrology, Hepatology, Virology, Cardiology and Neurology, among others. It’s innovative business models and high-quality service orientation, has enabled Vardhman to grown at an industry-leading pace to become a pan-India leader in specialty pharmaceutical distribution with 18 branches serving over 1,200 hospitals and specialty clinics all across India. With two decades of experience in Healthcare and Pharma industry, Vardhman diversified into providing in-depth Healthcare and pharmaceutical solutions. The company has invested into pharma 4.0 initiatives in creating digital healthcare platforms. The company has long standing partnerships with world-leading pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Abbott, Astellas, BMS, Cipla, DRL, Eli Lilly, Glenmark, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and Sanofi amongst others. It continues to leverage best-in-class logistics capabilities & network to serve over 1,500 international and national pharmaceutical brands across India. It is clearly the ‘preferred choice’ for speciality pharmaceutical distribution serving many reputed pan-India hospital network such as HCG, Manipal, American Oncology, Fortis, TATA Memorial, and Reliance Hospitals.

ABOUT AKNAMED:

Aknamed (Akna Medical Pvt. Ltd.) is India’s largest hospital-focused supply chain platform, enabling hospitals to simplify, optimise and monitor procurement and consumption using a cloud-based technology platform, national infrastructure and a comprehensive product basket. Founded by a team of people with decades of healthcare industry experience, led by Mahadevan (Mahad) Narayanamoni (Chairman) and Saurabh Pandey (CEO), Aknamed has built an organisation focused on delivering excellence in customer service, transparent business processes and practices with all stakeholders and developing deep capabilities in supply chain processes, technology and niche therapeutic areas. Aknamed aims to use scale, data and technology to transform the procurement function of the hospital into a strategic function, enabling the procurement and SCM teams at hospitals drive operational efficiency and profitability. The company partners with hospitals to optimise their procurement costs by using technology and scale and in turn with partners with manufacturers (OEMs) to take their products to hospitals most efficiently across the country. Aknamed currently has direct physical presence in 16 locations across the country and is in the process of expanding to over 30 locations in the coming months. The Company has the largest product portfolio in the country from a hospital consumption perspective, comprising over 10,000 products across surgical and generic / specialty pharmaceuticals including vaccines and other cold-chain products.