TA Associates announces investment in Ideal Cures

TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced it has completed an investment in Ideal Cures Private Limited, a supplier of ready-to-use coating products and excipients for tablets and capsules to the pharmaceutical and allied industries. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1999 in India, Ideal Cures' products are used to provide aesthetic coatings as well as functional coatings for tablets and capsules. Aesthetic sugar or film coatings allow for swallowability and taste masking. They also aid brand recognition, authentication and differentiation. Functional coatings serve a number of purposes ranging from moisture, oxygen and light protection of drugs to controlling drug delivery to a specific part of the gastrointestinal tract. Ideal Cures also produces specialty excipients such as neutral pellets, cooling compounds, taste masking agents, controlled release polymer blends and pharma acrylic polymers. Ideal Cures has three manufacturing plants located in Vasai, Jammu and Khambat; and two state-of-the-art R&D facilities in Mumbai and Vasai. Another plant is under construction in Sikkim.

"We believe that Ideal Cures has a robust business strategy, and over the last few years has emerged as a provider of high quality products and services in the tablet coating space, with a vast and diversified customer base globally," said Dhiraj Poddar, Country Head of India, TA Associates Advisory Private Limited, who will join the Ideal Cures Board of Directors. "Ideal Cures has worked diligently to innovate solutions that meet the needs of the pharmaceutical and allied industries, building exceptional manufacturing, research and development, and technical services capabilities to rapidly expand their operations. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Ideal Cures and we look forward to helping their experienced team to drive growth."

TA Associates believes that the trend is to outsource the production of ready-to-use, fully-formulated coatings, which is being driven most notably by companies seeking innovative solutions that reduce processing time and a company's carbon foot print such as Ideal Cures provides.

"To be a preferred global supplier of coatings and excipients, we have made it our mission over the course of our more than 15-year history to provide our customers with pioneering research and development, excellent technical support and good manufacturing practices," said Suresh Pareek, Founder and Managing Director of Ideal Cures. "We are confident that TA Associates' experience of investing in the healthcare sector will provide the financial and operational expertise to help us expand upon our solutions. We are pleased to welcome TA's investment and look forward to benefitting from this partnership."

"Ideal Cures' business, which is focused on innovation, best-in-class products, state-of-the art facilities and a well-trained and committed professional workforce, continues to evolve," said Kamlesh Oza, President - Global Business Development at Ideal Cures. "With the advent of TA Associates coming on board, Ideal Cures aims to leverage TA's networking and other corporate development capabilities to accelerate growth in not only some of the fastest growing regions, like South Asia, but also in well established markets around the world."

"We believe that the film coating industry is a unique, yet evolving sector that has strong potential for growth globally," said Naveen A. Wadhera, a Managing Director at TA Associates. "We expect that there are significant opportunities for expansion and are eager to help Ideal Cures further develop and enhance its brand and internal capabilities. We are delighted that Ideal Cures has chosen to partner with TA and look forward to helping them execute on their strategic vision."

K Law served as legal counsel to Ideal Cures and DSK Legal served as legal counsel to TA Associates. TA Associates Advisory Private Limited provided advisory services on the investment.