Consort Medical To Acquire British CDMO Aesica for $372M
Consort Medical announced its plans to purchase Aesica, one of Europe’s largest contract manufacturing and development organizations, a move expected to broaden its existing Bespak drug delivery device business. The deal, worth $372M, will depend on the approval of Consort shareholders.
Aesica was founded in 2004 and, with the help of Silverfleet Capital’s support, quickly became an industry leader in Europe, specializing in the manufacture of finished dose and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Robert Hardy, founding chief executive credits the company’s growth with continual process improvement, investment in capacity, and the establishment of key relationships with other pharma companies.
Robert Glenn, CEO of Consort, said that the acquisition of such a strong company “represents a strong fit with our existing strategy of diversifying into adjacent markets and technologies to capture additional value in the drug/device supply chain.”
According to Glenn, the proposed acquisition would benefit Consort in a variety of ways. First, the integrated pharma services would reduce the company’s cost and complexity in the supply chain, which would push existing products to market more quickly. Furthermore, the deal would expand Bespak’s manufacturing into mainland Europe.
Glenn explained, “Aesica is highly complementary to Bespak’s existing business and provides a number of clear strategic, competitive, and value-enhancing benefits for the enlarged group.”
Overall, Glenn projects the potential new earnings would quickly repay investors.
In June, Bespak entered into a development agreement with SteadyMed to collaborate on a PatchPump infusion device used to treat orphan disease, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
According to Business Weekly, Consort has also entered into a new facility agreement worth $259M with several banks.
Bespak, the core operating division of Consort, specializes in the manufacture of drug delivery devices. The company currently manufactures approximately 500 million devices per year.