Biocon Ltd is close to completing the integration of its subsidiary Biocon Biologics Ltd (BBL) with itself, after making progress last quarter on buying back the minority stake, Biocon Biologics' chief executive officer (CEO) Shreehas Tambe said on Friday.
The Bengaluru-based company on 14 January said it raised ₹4,150 crore ($460 million) through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares to buy out Mylan Inc’s (Viatris) stake in the subsidiary. Days later, it announced it had completed the acquisition of the remaining equity shares of BBL from Mylan for a cash consideration of $200 million, raising its stake to over 98%.
Biocon's board on Thursday granted in-principle approval to acquire the remaining 2% stake in BBL from employees who hold or will hold BBL's shares pursuant to exercise of stock options, and other minority shareholders.
“The businesses are in the process of getting together, and by the end of this quarter, which is ending March 31st 2026, we will be completing the integration process and will migrate towards one Biocon,” Tambe told Mint in an interview.
In June, Biocon raised its stake in BBL from 71% to 79% after settling structured debt instruments. In December, it announced the full integration of the subsidiary following months of deliberations over a potential listing or merger. The deal, which valued BBL at $5.5 billion, was described by Biocon as the most value-accretive option.
Over the last year, Biocon has focused on cleaning up its balance sheet, and improving its consolidated debt-to-Ebitda ratio, which currently stands at 2.5x, from over 4x in FY24. As the biopharmaceutical giant looks at a robust pipeline of biosimilars as well as GLP-1s in the coming fiscal year and beyond, its debt-to-Ebitda ratio is expected to move closer to 2x and below over time, Tambe said.
Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, and debt-Ebidta ratio signals how comfortably a company can repay its debt. The higher the ratio, the more difficult it would be for the company to repay its debts.
Biocon acquired Viatris’ biosimilar business for $3.3 billion in November 2022, which pushed up its debt. The company still has a net debt of about $1.15 billion on its books.
However, a cleaner balance sheet after Biocon settled structured debt in June 2025 will bolster its profit before tax (PBT) starting next fiscal. The company had raised ₹4,500 crore ($507.7 million) via a QIP in May, to settle structured debt obligations with Goldman Sachs and Kotak Mahindra Bank, as well as a commercial paper, which added an annualized interest cost of ₹300 crore.
“...we have been committed to reducing debt and deleveraging the balance sheet and what you’re seeing us progressively do is exactly that,” said Tambe.
Stock of Biocon settled 0.81% higher at ₹378.10 on the National Stock Exchange on Friday.
Growth pipeline
Biocon’s biologics business, its biggest growth driver, unveiled three new biosimilar oncology drugs - Trastuzumab/Hyaluronidase (Herceptin SC/Herceptin HYLECTA), Nivolumab (Opdivo), and Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) - at the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January.
These new drugs are among the largest oncology biologics scheduled to lose exclusivity over the next five years, with Keytruda being the world’s top selling drug since 2023. Biocon plans to launch these products in the first wave of market formation, Tambe said.
These drugs will join BBL’s existing portfolio of 17 oncology medicines. The company’s oncology portfolio, including undisclosed products, represents a $75 billion market opportunity, the company had said in a press release in January.
“We're looking to launch one product every year between now and 2030,” said Tambe.
On the generics front, the company is banking on its GLP-1 pipeline. It has already launched Liraglutide in several European Union markets (EU), driving up revenue in Q3, and is planning to launch Semaglutide as it goes off-patent in several emerging markets this year. It has already inked a supply agreement with Ajanta Pharma for several Asian and African markets, and is exploring partnerships for for the India market as well, Tambe said.
GLP-1 or glucagon-like peptide-1 is a hormone that regulatyes blood sugar; GLP-1–based drugs are used to treat diabetes and obesity.
In the October-December quarter, Biocon's consolidated revenue rose 11% year-on-year to ₹4,290 crore and Ebitda increased 21% to ₹951 crore. Its Ebitda margin expanded from 26% in Q3FY25 to 29%. Its net profit shot up to ₹144 crore, from ₹25 crore in Q3FY25.
The biologics arm reported a revenue of ₹2,497 crore, up 9% from a year earlier, with Ebitda of ₹700 crore, up 44%, driven by its focus on high-margin markets.
Revenue in the generics business grew 24% from a year earlier to ₹851 crore during the quarter, and rose 10% sequentially on the back of GLP-1 launches in EU markets.