German generics developer Stada Arzneimittel is mulling over a potential $11 billion sale, though there are no concrete and definite plans yet, CEO Peter Goldschmidt confirmed Tuesday.
Goldschmidt made the statement to German-language publication Zeit Online, which was confirmed by a Stada spokersperson to Endpoints News. “From my point of view, our owners are in an orientation phase in which initial exploratory talks are taking place. I don’t expect a decision before 2024,” Goldschmidt said, according to a translation from the spokesperson.
Rumors of the potential sale first circulated earlier this month when Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Stada’s private equity owners were looking at their options for the company moving forward including a sale.
Bloomberg reported that Bain Capital and Cinven had started approaching banks “to pitch for roles on a possible transaction.” If a sale does push through, Stada could go for approximately $11 billion (€10 billion) or more, according to the sources, who requested to remain anonymous.
Bain and Cinven assumed ownership of Stada in 2017, when the investment firms dropped approximately $5.6 billion to buy nearly 63.9% of the drugmaker’s outstanding shares. As part of the takeover, Bain and Cinven committed to support Stada including “investment in organic growth and expansion through acquisitions,” according to Cinven’s news release at the time.
According to the Stada spokesperson, Bain and Cinven are considering a sale now because “it is common for financial investors to exit after five to six years.”
Also on Tuesday, Stada posted its most recent earnings report touting its “best half-year results to date” with double-digit sales and strong profit growth, which were driven by the robust performances of its consumer healthcare, specialty pharmaceuticals and generics businesses.
The company’s consumer healthcare vertical, Stada’s largest strategic segment, saw several launches and line extensions which contributed to a 19% adjusted increase in sales. Recent acquisitions, including the Sanofi brands Omnivit and Ompticrom eye drops, also factored into the growth of the consumer healthcare business.
Stada’s generics and specialty segments also performed well with adjusted sales advancing by 8% and 24%, respectively. In particular, the launches of the anticoagulant apixaban, the diabetes drug sitagliptin, the pain-reliever tapentadol and the anti-parasitic medicine permethrin contributed to Stada’s strong first-half results.
