CCI clears Ranjan Pai's proposal to acquire stake in PharmEasy

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the proposals of purchasing stakes in Pharmeasy by various entities, including Ranjan Pai's MEMG Family Office LLP and 360 ONE Group.

API Holdings, through its subsidiaries, provides healthcare services through e-commerce marketplace PharmEasy.

The proposed transactions envisage the subscription of class B compulsorily convertible preference shares of the target (API Holdings Ltd) by the acquirers (MEMG LLP and 360 ONE Group), according to a CCI filing.

360 One is a Sebi-registered alternative investment fund managed by its investment manager, AML. The latter provides investment management services to schemes of 360 ONE Mutual Fund and alternative investment funds of the 360 ONE Group.

MEMG Family Office LLP (MEMG LLP) is engaged in consulting and advisory services to customers in India, and ultimately belongs to the Pai family group.

API Holdings—the parent company of Pharmeasy, Docon, Thyrocare, and Retailio—logged a cumulative EBITDA of Rs 60 crore in the April to September period of 2023.

In November 2022, the company had set a goal of achieving profitability in April 2023. It has managed to hit a positive EBITDA for all six months of FY24 put together, Dharmil Sheth, Co-founder of API Holdings, said in a LinkedIn post in October last year.

Sheth said, “We decided in November 2022 that we should be profitable in April 2023. Not move 'towards' profitability/not 'try to be profitable' - Just be 'profitable'. And the power of a common vision, teamwork, people coming together and moving towards a common goal, and just out-executing was proven!”

PharmEasy, along with embattled edtech firm BYJU's, were among the biggest 'underperformers' in Prosus’s India portfolio, hitting the Netherlands-based investment major’s internal rate of return (IRR) in the first half of 2024.

(With inputs from PTI)