Indian law firm S&R Associates has advised Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on the proposed divestment of 75 percent stake in Glenmark Life Sciences (GLS) for $680 million to Nirma, which was represented by Khaitan & Co.

GLS, which is a manufacturer and supplier of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) to global pharma manufacturers, was advised by Trilegal.

Pursuant to the transaction, Nirma will make a mandatory open offer to all public stakeholders of GLS. Glenmark Pharma will continue to own 7.84 percent of GLS.

The S&R team representing Glenmark Pharma was led by corporate partners Rajat Sethi and Pratichi Mishra, and included antitrust head Simran Dhir, tax partner Sumit Bansal and banking and finance partner Divyanshu Pandey.

The Khaitan team that represented Nirma was led by M&A partners Aashutosh Sampat and Mehul Shah and also included partners Arindam Ghosh (securities), Anisha Chand and Anshuman Sakle (competition), Shailendra Bhandare (IP), Abhiraj Gandhi (real estate) and Deepak Kumar (employment).

The Trilegal team representing GLS was led by the head of the corporate group, Yogesh Singh, along with partners Tejas Adiga and Atul Gupta.

“This deal aligns with our strategic intent of moving up the value chain to become an innovative/brand-led organisation, with continuous focus on our core therapeutic areas of dermatology, respiratory and oncology. It also presents an opportunity for us to strengthen shareholder value through deleveraging and enhancing our overall return profile,” Glenn Saldanha, chairman and managing director of Glenmark Pharma, said in a statement.

GLS will continue to operate as an independent API company under Nirma Limited, Yasir Rawjee, managing director and CEO of GLS, added.