Montagu acquires Rexam divisions for $805m

Ellie Pullen
03 February 2014

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Montagu Private Equity has acquired the healthcare devices and prescription retail divisions of UK consumer packaging company Rexam for $805m in cash.

The two Rexam units being acquired by Montagu currently make up two thirds of Rexam's healthcare division. Rexam has stated that it was contemplating a potential sale of the third healthcare packaging division, closures & containers.

Currently, the healthcare packaging unit generates 10% of Rexam's sales. The company's primary business operation is beverage cans.

Company
Rexam was founded in 1923 and currently employs 11,000 staff. The company is headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Its healthcare devices and prescription retail divisions together employ 1,500 staff and generated aggregate sales of around £250m in 2012, as well as an operating profit of £43m. The two units account for 85% of the total EBITDA for Rexam's healthcare division.

Rexam's healthcare devices subsidiary is based in La Verpillière in France. The unit designs and manufactures plastic medical devices for drug administration for the pharmaceutical industry, such as inhalers and insulin pens. According to Montagu, Rexam's healthcare devices unit generates annual sales of approximately $265m on its own and employs 1,300 staff.

The company's prescription retail division is based in Berlin, Ohio in the US. The subsidiary manufactures plastic vials for the US pharmacy industry, designed to deliver an exact count of pills to patients. On its own, the division generates $165m in sales and employs 170 staff.

People
Marc Haemel is the head of Rexam healthcare. Sylvain Berger-Duquene is a director and head of France and Germany at Montagu.

Advisers
Equity – Morgan Stanley (Corporate finance); Weil Gotshal & Manges (Legal).