According to the company the funds will be used for strengthening its presence in the cephalosporin segment as well as for entering the non-antibiotic segment.

The company proposes to make a fresh issue of 38.7 lakh shares of Rs10 each through the initial public offering. The offer will constitute 26 per cent of the fully diluted post-offer paid-up capital.

The revenues of the company have been growing at about 15 per cent in the last five years. For the year ended March 31, 2005, it achieved a sales turnover of Rs232.7 crore with a net profit of Rs22.6 crore.

The company is also planning to set up a sterile cephalosporin US FDA-approvable plant, along with putting in place a formulation facility at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. A part of the money will also be used in funding its research and development (R&D) and setting up a quality control centre at Derabasi (Punjab).

Nectar Lifesciences currently manufactures both oral and sterile bulk drugs and is a supplier to several domestic pharmaceutical companies. The company is also focusing on the development of more value-added cephalosporin products.

Sanjiv Goyal, managing director of Nectar Lifesciences said, "The strength of the company is in the range of products, which is expanding each year. The R&D team of our company is working on developing new molecules, improving the existing ones and bringing in cost efficiencies."