PPLPHARMA

By Summer Zhen

HONG KONG, June 2 (Reuters) - Hedge funds revealed their top investment ideas, ranging from Chinese self-driving taxis, an Indian drug retailer, to a Korean nuclear plant builder, at the annual Sohn investment conference in Hong Kong.

This year’s picks are geographically more diverse compared to last year, suggesting that investors are actively seeking to spread their exposure to counter tariff uncertainties and market volatility.

San Francisco-based Flight Deck Capital sees upside potential in Chinese search engine giant Baidu 9888.HK, betting on its fast-growing auto-driving business.

Similar to Google's self-driving unit Waymo, Baidu's Apollo Go "is the only robo-taxi player in China that's not dependent on the capital markets to scale," Flight Deck founder and managing partner Jay Kahn said at the conference on Friday.

He expects China's taxi and ride-share industry to grow to around $237 billion by 2034, with Apollo taking a 15% market share. But that segment, together with Baidu's cloud business, is currently given zero valuation by the market, he said.

Notably, investor optimism on Chinese firms going overseas has not been derailed by the escalating U.S.-China trade war.

Hong Kong's Apeiron Capital pitched Chinese ride-hailing company DiDi Global 925y.D, citing its improving margin at home and its quick market share building in Latin America. Meanwhile Triata Capital is upbeat on Chinese discount e-commerce player PDD PDD.O, the owner of Temu.

"One statistic that a lot of people don't know is that their MAU right now is bigger than Amazon," Triata CIO Sean Ho said, referring to Temu's monthly active users.

INDIA

Two investors set their sights on India's healthcare space.

Singapore's Arisaig Partners favors MedPlus Health Services MEDP.NS, a leading pharmacy chain in India, as its private label products strengthen its low-price proposition, widening the gap with competitors.

"Inflation is lower, government is focusing on the middle class and consumer spending is coming off a low base. I simply believe this is the time when the consumer space in general will do better," Vatsal Mody, partner and head of India research at Arisaig Partners said in an interview ahead of the conference.

India-based hedge fund startup Panvira Management is bullish on Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS, a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), expecting its growth to accelerate to high teens and to benefit from tax rate normalisation.

SECURITY AND ACTIVISTS

Other emerging hedge funds focused on opportunities in the security sector driven by geopolitical conflicts.

Jon Jhun, who manages MY.Alpha Management's new Korea-focused fund, chose Hyundai Engineering & Construction 000720.KS, which engages in nuclear plant engineering, procurement and construction (EPC).

"Korea dominates the ex-Russia, ex-China nuclear supply chain," he said.

Hong Kong's Frontline Global Management picked Spanish defence firm Indra Sistemas IDR.MC, believing the firm will win more European contracts.

On the activist investor side, UK hedge fund Palliser Capital disclosed a 3% stake in Japan's Toyo Tire 5105.T at the event, urging the tire maker to boost shareholder returns by setting a "best-in-class" performance target and releasing its excess capital of about $900 million to shareholders.

Seth Fischer's Oasis Management is long Japanese entertainment complex chain Round One 4680.T, betting it will gain a re-rating as it ventures into the restaurant industry aiming to bring Michelin-quality Japanese food to the U.S.

(Reporting by Summer Zhen; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise about 2.5% to 222.29 rupees apiece after Goldman Sachs starts coverage with "buy" rating

** PIRM shares are down 5.7% in the last two sessions amid a broader market drop after the U.S. announced reciprocal tariffs

** Goldman Sachs sets a target price for PIRM at 275 rupees, implying a potential upside of 26.8% in the next 12 months

** PIRM is well-placed to deliver a top-quartile profit growth over the fiscal years 2024-2028, says Goldman Sachs

** Forecasts PIRM to post sustainable growth in contract development and manufacturing segment, capacity ramp-ups, and domestic consumer healthcare businesses

** PIRM shares are down 18.5% in 2025 so far mirroring the small-cap index .NIFSMCP100 of which it is a constituent

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise 2.5% to 227 rupees apiece

** Pharma company's unit gets market authorization from UK's drug regulator for the use of its drug formulation to treat hypotension in neonates, infants and children

** With this, PIRM has secured commercialization rights for the drug Neoatricon for the European Union, the UK and Norway

** PIRM is down 15% in 2025 compared to a 14% fall in the small-cap 100 index .NIFSMCP100, of which it is a constituent

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

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March 20 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA LTD- PIRAMAL CRITICAL CARE AND BREPCO ANNOUNCES MHRA APPROVAL FOR NEOATRICO IN UK

Source text: ID:nBSE3WJl3

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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Adds details from exchange filing, background from paragraph 2

Feb 28 (Reuters) - India's Piramal Enterprises PIRA.NS said in an exchange filing on Friday that it had received a tax demand of 15.02 billion rupees (nearly $172 million) for the sale of its pharmaceutical business to Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS in fiscal year 2021.

A tax office in the state of Maharashtra has asked the financial services company to pay 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the deal, the latter said in the filing.

The tax bill amounts to about 15% of its revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Piramal Enterprises said it has solid grounds to challenge the "unjustified" demand.

The company sold its pharmaceutical business and other related units to Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS for 44.87 billion rupees in October 2020.

Maharashtra's tax office has contended that the transfer of its pharma business to Piramal Pharma counts as an itemized sale and not a slump sale, the company said.

A slump sale, which receives more preferential tax treatment, refers to the sale of all assets and liabilities of an undertaking without values being assigned to individual assets and liabilities. Such a sale must also not hinder the business operations of the transferred entity.

An itemized sale, on the other hand, refers to assets and liabilities being sold with separate values assigned to each item.

Piramal Enterprises said it expects that the order would be set aside.

($1 = 87.3660 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Pooja Desai)

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Corrects paragraph 14 to say India has "committed" not "invested" $2.86 billion

By Rishika Sadam, Kashish Tandon and Bhanvi Satija

HYDERABAD Feb 27 (Reuters) - India's contract drug makers have urged the government to remove regulatory hurdles and grant faster clearance to vital raw material imports at a time when many global pharmaceutical firms are counting on the nation to reduce their reliance on China.

India's Contract Research Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CRDMO) sector is at an inflection point, with the potential to grow seven-fold to $22 billion-$25 billion by 2035, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group.

Globally, the market stands at $140 billion-$145 billion.

"The government has to understand that this industry has potential, if not scale, right now," Krishna Kanumuri, CEO and managing director at Sai Life Sciences SAIE.NS, said at an event earlier this week.

India's contract drug manufacturers have gained from global companies' efforts to diversify their supply chain after the pandemic and a U.S. bill that would prohibit federal contracts with certain Chinese biotech firms on national security grounds.

However, India's policies are yet to play catch-up.

For instance, prolonged approval times and regulatory demands tied to certain raw material imports meant Indian firms often require eight to 15 days to initiate projects, while their Chinese peers could do it within three days, according to Vikash Aggarwala, MD and Partner at BCG's healthcare practice.

Industry insiders pushed for more business-friendly policies in the world's fifth-largest economy, which is heavily dependent on China for drug-related raw materials.

Piramal Pharma's PIRM.NS Chairperson Nandini Piramal lamented the lack of customs warehouses at the right locations and related logistics costs, a dearth of cold storage units, and delays tied to the clearance of certain raw material imports.

"All of those, I think, add more friction to the ease of doing business," Piramal told Reuters.

Some others highlighted the delay in approvals due to the lack of a centralized, digital, single-window clearance system.

Syngene's SYNN.NS CEO-designate Peter Bains said the "friction and delay" could be compressed, highlighting it was "a disadvantage that India has against other jurisdictions".

India's health and finance ministries did not respond to Reuters requests seeking comment.

The country, which offers cheap labour and a large talent pool, has already committed over $2.86 billion in the local biotech industry, according to the BCG report. But industry insiders are urging for more.

"I would really pitch for a CRDMO park... with policies where you don't have to go and get permissions from the local drug controller for making changes, where there are easy export and import capabilities," Aragen Life Sciences CEO Manni Kantipudi said.

($1 = 87.3900 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam, Kashish Tandon and Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Janane Venkatraman)

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By Kashish Tandon, Bhanvi Satija and Rishika Sadam

HYDERABAD Feb 26 (Reuters) - The rising adoption of artificial intelligence in the pharmaceutical industry dominated discussions at a conference in India this week, while executives largely preferred to wait for more clarity on U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Drugmakers such as Amgen AMGN.O and contract manufacturers including Parexel highlighted AI's role in reducing the time taken to conduct certain parts of the trials.

U.S.-based Parexel said it was piloting an AI model to generate drug safety reports 30-45 minutes faster than the manual process. The AI-generated reports are then verified by an expert.

AI can help halve the cost and time taken to develop a drug, from discovery through commercial production, compared to the traditional process, said Chaitanya Royyuru, partner at consulting firm EY. Royyuru estimated that the process currently takes more than 10 years and costs about $1 billion.

Discovering new molecules and drug repurposing, or using a drug for a condition outside of its approved indication, are other areas where AI is being utilized, executives said.

Beyond drug discovery processes, AI is also being used in medical image reading, where it is able to assist doctors in finding anomalies.

"Sometimes, when we look at an X-ray and we think it's normal, but AI says look, there's a small cancer you're missing," said Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology.

"And when we actually look at it very carefully and follow the patient, there's a cancer coming there," Reddy said.

Ken Washington, chief technological officer, Medtronic, said, "The bottom line is that AI has to be everybody's job."

WAIT AND WATCH ON TARIFFS

Trump's plans to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports had cast a shadow over the two-day conference as India is among the top exporters to the U.S., especially of cheaper versions of popular drugs.

However, drugmakers including Dr Reddy's REDY.NS said they were still waiting for clarity on the tariffs.

"Right now, it's wait and watch. There is no clarity on what the tariffs are, if any, or if there is a transition period," said Nandini Piramal, chairperson at Piramal Pharma, which provides contract manufacturing and development services.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon, Bhanvi Satija and Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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Adds comments from Piramal Pharma executive in paragraphs 7 and 8

By Rishika Sadam

HYDERABAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Indian drugmakers are likely to remain competitive in the generics market even as U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, Dr Reddy's Managing Director GV Prasad said on Tuesday.

Trump has said he could impose duties of 25% or more on pharmaceutical imports and an announcement could be made by next month. The U.S. accounts for nearly a third of India's pharma exports, mainly cheaper versions of popular drugs, with sales jumping 16% to about $9 billion last fiscal year.

The industry is still waiting for more clarity before taking any action, Prasad said on the sidelines of the BioAsia conference in the Southern Indian state of Telangana.

"In reality, to shift (the manufacturing of) all these products into the United States is not practical. They don't have that much capacity, and their costs will rise. Even with tariffs, I think Indian and Chinese companies would be competitive."

The tariffs would likely raise the costs for U.S. consumers or middlemen, he said.

Nandini Piramal, chairperson at Piramal Pharma, which provides contract manufacturing and development services, echoed Prasad's comments on the lack of clarity.

"For us, our strategy is to be geography agnostic. If companies want to pay higher prices in the U.S. to make in the U.S., we're very happy to help them do so."

India's drug industry has pinned its hopes on bilateral talks to earn an exception, though Trump has ruled out any such concession so far.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad; Writing by Manas Mishra; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sriraj Kalluvila )

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Feb 18 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• US FDA INSPECTION AT PIRAMAL PHARMA'S FACILITY LOCATED AT TURBHE

• ON CONCLUSION OF INSPECTION, A FORM-483 WAS ISSUED WITH 6 OBSERVATIONS

Source text: ID:nBSE410CGn

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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Jan 28 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA DEC-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 36.8 MILLION RUPEES

• PIRAMAL PHARMA DEC-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 22.04 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nNSE9J9WMD

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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Jan 27 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• GETS GST ORDER WITH PENALTY OF 154.4 MILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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Jan 22 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• DIVISION ANNOUNCES US LAUNCH OF CHLORPROMAZINE HYDROCHLORIDE FOR INJECTION

Source text: ID:nBSE151Czh

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise 5.1% to 264.05 rupees

** JM Financial Institutional Securities starts coverage with a "buy" and TP of 340 rupees, a Street-high, per data compiled by LSEG

** TP at 35% premium to stock's previous close

** PIRM's differentiated offerings, global manufacturing presence and end-to-end capabilities will help to capitalise on the ongoing contract drug manufacturing industry expansion - note

** Brokerage sees margin expansion on increasing contribution from on-patent manufacturing

** PIRM stock up ~91% YTD vs 24% gains in 2023

(Reporting by Vijay Malkar)

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Dec 6 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA SOLUTIONS INC AND VETDC, INC ENTERED INTO SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

• SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT FOR USD 407,400

Source text: ID:nBSE7TgCfd

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise 6.5% to 233 rupees

** Co posted a near five-fold surge in Q2 consol net profit to 225.9 mln rupees (~$3 million)

** Revenue in core contract development and manufacturing organisation segment jumps 24%

** More than 12 mln shares change hands, 1.5x its 30-day avg

** Five analysts covering the stock on avg have a "buy" rating; median PT is 260 rupees - LSEG data

** Stock up 68% so far this year

($1 = 84.0650 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru)

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Sept 30 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA SOLUTIONS ANNOUNCES $80M EXPANSION PLAN

• EXPANSION PLAN FOR STERILE INJECTABLES FACILITY IN LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE2rfhlN

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS up 5% to 228.6 rupees, its biggest one-day gain in more than 2 weeks

** Co's contract manufacturing division's turnaround is progressing well, hospital generics business should be back to growth from 2HFY25, Jefferies says

** Raises TP to 260 rupees from 195 rupees; maintains 'Buy' rating

** Co aims to grow revenue to over $2 bln with 25% EBITDA margin by FY2030

** This implies rev/EBITDA CAGRs of 12.2%/20.3%, which is achievable - Jefferies

** Raises FY25/26 EBIDTA estimates by 4-10% on better contract manufacturing margins

** Analysts' avg rating on stock is "Buy" (with median TP 245 rupees) vs "Hold" for peer IPCA Laboratories IPCA.NS (with median TP 1,350 rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru)

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Sept 17 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA - RECEIVED SBTI APPROVAL FOR COMMITMENT TO REDUCE SCOPE 1 AND 2 GHG EMISSIONS BY 42% AND SCOPE 3 BY 25% BY FY 2030

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSEccwrM7

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS jump 12% to record high of 216.58 rupees

** More than 2.1 mln shares changed hands in five block deals at 195.32-209.80 rupees each -LSEG data

** Prices at a premium to last close price of 193.10 rupees

** Stock last up ~11%, set for its best day ever

** Trading vol of 52 mln shares is 9.5x the 30-day avg

** Stock is up 53% YTD

(Reporting by Nishit Navin)

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July 30 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA LTD - TO SELL PLOT OF LAND, FACTORY FOR ABOUT 90 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE7jf9LM

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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July 23 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS WITH CLEAN MAX AERO, CLEAN MAX ENVIRO ENERGY SOLUTIONS

• DEAL FOR 21.6 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSEc5Kzq6

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise 2.3% to 154.53 rupees, set for best day in about a month

** Co says U.S. FDA completes inspection of Ahmedabad facility with Zero Form - 483 observations - and 'no action indicated' designation

** PIRM set to snap three-day losing streak

** Stock up ~11% YTD

(Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani in Bengaluru)

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS up 2.7% to 151 rupees

** Pharma co said the U.S. FDA issued establishment inspection report for Lexington, USA-based facility and the inspection has closed

** Stock on track to log weekly gains of 1.2% after two straight weeks of losses

** Including session's gains, stock up ~9% YTD

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru)

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** Shares of India's Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS up 6.4%, cooling off from session-high 10.8% jump

** Drugmaker's consolidated adjusted pre-tax profit for Q4 almost trebled, helped by rise in revenue and cost tightening

** Trading volumes 7x the 30-day avg

** YTD stock had risen 15.2%

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

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May 10 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA MARCH-QUARTER CONSOL NET PAT 1.01 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS PROFIT 501.1 MILLION RUPEES

• PIRAMAL PHARMA MARCH-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 25.52 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS 21.64 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: [ID:]

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise as much as 4.2% to 147.40 rupees, last up 2.1%

** Co says US FDA inspection of manufacturing facility at Riverview, United States has been closed; establishment inspection report issued

** PIRM on track for third straight session of gains

** Stock trading above its 50-, 100-, and 200-day moving averages since early April

** About 2.3 mln shares change hands, half the 30-day avg

** Stock up ~4% YTD, had gained 24% in 2023

(Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani in Bengaluru)

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April 17 (Reuters) - Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• CLOSURE OF US FDA INSPECTION AT PIRAMAL PHARMA'S MANUFACTURING FACILITY LOCATED AT RIVERVIEW, USA

• US FDA HAS ISSUED AN ESTABLISHMENT INSPECTION REPORT (EIR) FOR RIVERVIEW, USA FACILITY

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE3XfKYh

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

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Piramal Pharma Ltd PIRM.NS:

• PIRAMAL PHARMA LTD- CONSUMER PRODUCTS DIVISION HAS ANNOUNCED ITS FORAY INTO MEN'S PERSONAL GROOMING CATEGORY

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE7XTb0d

Further company coverage: PIRM.NS

** Shares of Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS rise 3.5%, before trimming gains slightly; last up 2.7%

** Indian government initiates anti-dumping investigation on imports of Vitamin-A Palmitate from China, EU and Switzerland

** Co had filed a petition before directorate general of foreign trade (DGTR) in June 2022, seeking an anti-dumping probe

** The sole producer of the product in India, Piramal says dumped imports hurt domestic industries; alleges price undercutting and suppression by imports

** Stock on track for fourth straight session of gains; trading volumes at over 2.8 mln shares, 0.7x the 30-day avg

** Including session's gains, stock is down ~4% YTD

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru)

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** Piramal Pharma PIRM.NS up 2.7% at 120.05 rupees

** Stock trading at attractive valuations of 14x FY25 enterprise value (EV) to EBITDA, says Jefferies

** Brokerage rates PIRM with "buy" and PT of 170 rupees

** Says, with earnings momentum in place, stock valuation re-rating should follow

** Estimates 12.5% rev growth in FY25 for PIRM, but believes co can do better led by CDMO contracts

** ICICI Securities, Motilal Oswal Securities, and Axis Capital each rate PIRM "strong buy"; their avg PT is 158.33 rupees - LSEG data

** Co's rev rose 14.1% YoY in Q3

** Broader Nifty Pharma .NIPHARM index, which PIRM is not part of, down 1.1%

(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru)

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