Aenova sponsor BC Partners taps Jefferies to explore exit options

Teasers for the company are already in circulation, a fourth source familiar added.

Aenova is being marketed off around EUR 130m EBITDA for 2023, two of the sources said. The company's EBITDA has rebounded nicely after it dropped from around EUR 100m in 2021 to EUR 95m in 2022, one of the sources plus a fifth source familiar said.

Still, despite this improvement, bidders are expected to have some reservations over the asset and its expected high price tag given these fluctuations in its performance and the fact that a prior sale process proved unsuccessful, two of the sources said.

In 2021, BC Partners tapped Rothschild to advise on a sale process that aimed to fetch an enterprise value (EV) of EUR 1.5bn for Aenova, as reported. That attempt was ultimately called off due to uncertainties caused by the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, one of the sources noted.

In 2021, Aenova generated around EUR 107m adjusted EBITDA on the back of EUR 697m sales revenue, according to its 2021 annual report. The company registered a 7% year-on-year sales decline from EUR 752m in 2020 due to slow end-market demand in parts of its portfolio as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing overstocking from 2020 and delays in new product ramp-ups, according to the report.

In 2022, sales revenue amounted to EUR 750m, according to a press release.

Investors looking for a comparable company might turn to Recipharm, a Swedish contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) taken private by EQT in 2021, one of the sources said. That transaction valued Recipharm at around SEK 17.5bn (EUR 1.7bn), according to Mergermarket data.

BC Partners acquired Aenova in 2012 from Bridgepoint Capital for an estimated EUR 500m, according to Mergermarket data. Aenova completed a handful of add-on acquisitions under BC Partners' ownership, including of Bio-Garten, a German maker of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, and of US-based Contract Packaging Resources, both in 2014 and Germany-based Haupt Pharma in 2013.

In 2018, Aenova sold Euro Vital, a German pharmaceutical manufacturer it had acquired in 2012, to sponsor capiton for an undisclosed sum.

Aenova is a leading global contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, offering services including end-to-end manufacturing and development of all dosage forms and potency levels ranging from nutraceuticals to high-potents, according to its website. Headquartered in Starnberg outside Munich, the company was created in 2008 out of the merger of the pharmaceutical companies Dragenopharm and Swiss Caps. It has around 4,100 employees across 15 locations worldwide.

Jefferies and BC Partners declined to comment. Aenova did not respond to requests for comment.

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