India's Biocon names Peter Bains as group CEO

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian drugmaker Biocon Ltd on Monday appointed Peter Bains as the group's chief executive officer, effective immediately.

Bains, who was named as an independent director of the Biocon board in December last year, stepped down on Monday to assume the top charge, the company said in a statement.

"Peter has a unique fit and profile for the role having ... a comprehensive understanding of the Biocon Group ... having led Syngene for five years, (and) taking it through its very successful IPO in 2015," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon group chairperson.

Bains, the first-ever group CEO, will report directly to Mazumdar-Shaw, the statement added.

A graduate of the University of Sheffield in the UK, Bains was associated with Biocon's research unit Syngene International from 2010 to 2016, according to the company website.

He was named Syngene's CEO in April 2015, before retiring from the post a year later.

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sohini Goswami)