Thanks for feedback.
Metropolis was more due to better management / promoter (my take, explained below), smaller size relative to Pathlabs (while not v different in scale), and slightly better ROCE in recent years. One factor is that inorganic consolidation of regional and unorganised players is a big part of the diagnostics thesis, and Metropolis has been a big deal maker , both attracting big PE investors and a good track record of assimilating and scaling acquisitions. IMO this ability to make big deals and smart buyouts will be key in this space - core business is cash rich and they have lots of options to raise and allocate capital, so need a smart inorganic operator. They are also investing heavily into organic tech and digital, which seems to be a v cohesive strategy and good capital allocation - organic investment into things that will scale quickly across inorganic additions. Ameera Shah as promoter is still quite young , and has long runway, so overall a more dynamic promoter / management team.
Regarding Thyrocare, honestly not much, it is smaller so it will have less flexibility in inorganic deal making, so that’s one thing , and if I understand it correctly it is a bit more B2B and specialised. My strategy is more picking #1 or #2 player in a 3-4 horse race , so Metropolis was more the right scale and breadth in B2C and pathology for that.
Biocon ans Syngene are plays on v specific sectors in which there are no other relevant competitors in India today - namely Biologics and CRO. I believe there is a v long runway for both these spaces and they are difficult to break into due to complexity and talent requirements. I am v bullish biotech long term and Indian complex knowledge outsourcing opportunity , and Syngene is an intersection of that. It is also a cash generative machine.
So I do not see this as the same as say CDMO (diff from CRO) or complex generics plays like Laurus, Solara etc. Simple answer is I never looked into them and missed the bus , but I would put these into a different segment, that I don’t understand well or where the competitive dynamics over the medium term are unclear.