Danish Novo Holdings has received approval from the European Union to acquire Catalent Inc., one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. This is reported in the press release of the European regulator.
From the EU's point of view, the deal will not cause competition problems in the European Economic Area.
The transaction value is $16.5 billion ($63.5 per share, which is 16.5% higher than the closing price on February 2, 2024), including debt obligations.
The deal includes the acquisition of three Catalent factories in different countries, including plants in Anagni (Italy), Bloomington (Indiana) and Brussels (Belgium).
As part of the deal, a consortium managed by Ares Management Corp. and Blue Owl Capital Inc. provided Novo Holdings with $4.8 billion in borrowed funds to acquire Catalent. The financing package includes an urgent loan in the amount of $4.2 billion and a revolving credit line in the amount of $575 million.
Novo Holdings, which owns 77% of Novo Nordisk, has stepped up the deal process amid growing demand for Novo's weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic.
Novo is striving to establish a more reliable supply chain due to a shortage of Wegovy and Ozempic drugs amid increased competition with Eli Lilly & Co., which produces the anti-obesity drug Zepbound, the best-selling drug at the moment.
Despite permission from the EU, the deal is subject to approval by the US regulator FTC, which may cast doubt on the pooling of assets.
The deal is in line with Novo Holdings' strategy of investing in well-known research companies with strong long-term potential for the development and production of pharmaceutical and biotechnological solutions. Due to the deal, Novo Holdings expects to increase the production of Wegovy and Ozempic diabetes drugs by Novo Nordisk, which have become popular as weight loss drugs.
Upon completion of the transaction, Catalent's shares will be de-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Catalent will become a private company.
Citi and J.P. Morgan act as financial advisers, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP act as Catalent's legal advisor. Morgan Stanley and Goodwin Procter LLP are advisers to Novo Holdings.
Novo Holdings is an asset management holding and investment company of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The company is the majority shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S and manages a portfolio of stocks, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity assets in the field of natural sciences. Novo Holdings includes subsidiaries Seeds, Venture, Growth and Principal Investments. The headquarters is located in Copenhagen (Denmark) with offices in San Francisco, Boston and Singapore. The total assets of Novo Holdings amount to 108 billion euros.
Novo Nordisk is a corporate fund in the healthcare sector. The company promotes research and innovation in the field of prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases. Novo Nordisk's capitalization exceeded $500 billion at the end of January.
Catalent, Inc. is an American pharmaceutical company dedicated to optimizing the development and implementation of delivery and multimodal production technologies. Catalent helps accelerate the implementation of more than 1.5 thousand partner programs through production platforms at 50 enterprises that provide packaging and packaging of various medicinal injections. The company is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. In 2023, revenue amounted to $4.3 billion.
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