Singapore, January 26, 2010: The Venture Intelligence is organizing APEX ’10 Private Equity & Venture Capital Summit, scheduled for February 4 at Mumbai. The summit will feature a panel discussion on the role of Private Equity and Venture Capital in Healthcare & Life Sciences. 

 

Speakers on the panel include: Mr Hari Buggana, Managing Director, Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund, Dr. Bala Manian, CEO, ReaMetrix, Mr Swapan Bhattacharya, Managing Director, TCG Lifesciences, Mr Chetan Tamhankar, CEO, SIRO Clinpharm, Mr S. Nandakumar, CEO, Perfint Healthcare and Mr Amit Mookim, Director, KPMG India.

“The mega Ranbaxy-Daiichi deal, which has been followed by other large M&A deals in the pharma sector including the Orchid-Hospira and Shantha-Sanofi deals, has created much excitement among investor community. Consolidation in the hospitals sector is also presenting investors with several interesting investment opportunities,” said Arun Natarajan, Managing Director & CEO of Venture Intelligence.

 

However, PE/VC firms also have some specific concerns relating to investments in the HLS industry. A recent poll by Venture Intelligence lists long gestation periods, scalability and talent shortage as among the top concerns for investors when it comes to the healthcare sector. In the Life Sciences segment, investors’ concerns are focused on the high risk of failure (especially in new drug R&D), stiff competition from inside and outside India, as well as patent-related issues. Lack of clarity in regulations and corporate governance standards were listed as common concerns across the industry.

 

The HLS panel at APEX’10 will focus on both the opportunities and challenges for investing in this industry. As with the past three summits, APEX’10 will witness the coming together of about 200 participants from leading PE & VC Funds, Entrepreneurs and Top Executives from across sectors and related Service Providers.