US alt-dairy startup Perfect Day looks set to acquire India’s Sterling Biotech, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of gelatin, which entered liquidation in 2019, after placing the winning bid at an auction.
Perfect Day declined to comment when contacted by AFN regarding the auction. Halal Capsule Shells
The Economic Times reported in April that five bidders had reached the final stage of the auction process:
As the winning bidder, Perfect Day will now need to complete various compliance processes before the deal can complete.
Among the listed assets up for grabs are two manufacturing plants in Gujarat state and another in Tamil Nadu, according to regulatory filings.
Without confirmation from Perfect Day or the other parties, we can only speculate as to why it is attempting to purchase Sterling Biotech. What seems obvious is that the US startup is interested in Sterling Biotech’s equipment and capabilities.
There are a few possible reasons:
Gelatin is a key ingredient in pharmaceutical manufacturing, where it is used as a gelling agent. In the 1990s, entrepreneur brothers Chetan and Nitin Sandesara identified a gap in the market for supplying low-cost, pharmaceutical-grade gelatin to India’s booming generics industry.
They quickly established their first gelatin plants, keeping prices low by using the bones that are an abundant byproduct of India’s expansive buffalo-rearing industry.
This business eventually grew into Sterling Biotech, becoming the world’s sixth-largest manufacturer of pharmaceutical gelatin by the late 2010s, according to the Times.
However, the Sandesaras ran up massive debts and fled India for Nigeria. Owing a reported ₹8.1 billion ($104 million) to lenders, Sterling Biotech was forced into liquidation as a going concern in May 2019.
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