Actis, a private equity firm based in London, was looking to acquire a stake in Symbiotec Pharmalab. Actis will buy the shares for about US$50 million. 

Diligence, shareholding agreements, and other formalities were already completed. However, the deal was still pending approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), said an anonymous source who was familiar with the transaction. The FIPB approval will likely take 6 weeks. Another 2 weeks will be needed for the arrival of the funds, added the source.

Actis will be buying out shares of Franklin Templeton. Templeton bought 25-34% stake in the company. The company has other high-net worth individual investors who own less than 10% stake in Symbiotec Pharmalab. According to the source, these included Soya Marketing and Super Star Exports.

Symbiotec Pharmalab was a cortico steroids API manufacturer located in Indore, India. The company was founded by Anil Satwani. On the other hand, Actis was private equity firm that focuses on emerging markets.