SOARING START-UP VALUATIONS, RISING QUESTIONS
On June 25, listed diagnostics chain Thyrocare announced the sale of 66.14 per cent stake to API Holdings, the parent company of online pharmacy PharmEasy, for `4,546 crore, in the first-ever acquisition of a publicly listed company by an Indian unicorn. PharmEasy is the first unicorn in the epharmacy space earlier this year. The deal also triggered an open offer for the purchase of an additional 26 per cent stake at `1,300 a piece, a discount of 10 per cent to Thyrocare’s closing share price on the same day. The total deal value, including the open offer, is pegged at over a billion dollars. Thyrocare’s shares, however, fell 10 per cent intra-day on June 28 due to the discounted open offer.
Market watchers say the deal is the beginning of hectic activities in the start-up world, with many more companies likely to announce IPOs later this year.
