Mumbai, July 16: Biotechnology major Biocon has set the price band at Rs 240-250 per share for the forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) of its research arm Syngene International Ltd.

Its initial offering will open for subscription on July 27 and close on July 29, the Bangalore-based company said in a communication to the bourses today.

According to the draft red herring prospectus, the company plans to sell 2.2 crore shares, including reservation of up to two million shares for Biocon shareholders, through an offer for sale.

While Biocon now holds nearly 86 per cent of Syngene, its holding will come down to 75 per cent following the offer.

Syngene is a contract research organisation (CRO), offering end-to-end discovery and development services for novel molecular entities across sectors that include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrochemicals, consumer health, animal health, cosmetic and nutrition.

The company now plans to evolve from a CRO into a contract research and manufacturing services organisation with commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities, thereby providing forward integration on the discovery and development services.

In January, Biocon concluded the sale of a 10 per cent stake in Syngene for Rs 380 crore to IVF Trustee Company. The deal had put the entire valuation of Syngene International at Rs 3,800 crore.

For the fiscal ended March 2015, the company posted a total revenue of Rs 872 crore and a net profit of Rs 175 crore, up from Rs 708 crore and Rs 135 crore, respectively, a year ago.