Kartesia carves out ADL Biopharma from Black Toro's ADL Bionatur

With immediate effect, ADL Biopharma will operate as an independent entity from ADL Bionatur Solutions.

The deal includes a new debt tranche of €5m made available by Kartesia at closing for the general corporate purposes of ADL. The deal also specifies a commitment from the shareholders to approve a capital increase of at least €10m, which will be completed by the end of the year, pro rata of the stake of each party, and an amend and extend facility of the senior financing.

The total investment of €15m will provide ADL with financial stability and allow the company to execute its long-term strategic plan, which includes investments in additional capacity and production optimisation.

This investment follows the €25m debt package provided by Kartesia in August 2019. Kartesia is a pan-European investor specialising in financing solutions for mid-market companies. The firm manages €3bn in assets and employs 50 professionals across its offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Munich and Paris.

ADL plans to invest in a new media preparation plant, add downstream capacity and restart the second phase of construction of its waste treatment plant.

In addition, the company's board of directors has been expanded to five seats with the appointment of three new independent directors: Raúl Crespo, Ignacio Urbelz and Mirco Iwan.

The new board will supervise the execution of ADL's strategic plan, which will focus on three main goals: boosting the contract manufacturing business by leveraging the company's in-house expertise and industrial capacity; improving the quality of service provided to customers; and deploying the fresh capital with the aim of strengthening and expanding the company's market position in growing end-markets such as alternative bio-based food, cosmetics, and health and personal care products.

The company was merged through a reverse acquisition with Madrid-listed Bionaturis Solutions, an animal health specialist, in November 2017. Following the merger, Black Toro controlled an 85.7% stake in the new entity, rebranded as ADL Bionatur Solutions and listed on the alternative equity market of the Spanish stock exchange.

The company raised a €12m funding round from Spanish institutional and qualified investors in July 2018, issuing 5,454,546 new shares at a price of 220 cents per share. Following this offer, ADL's free-float increased to around 20%, while Black Toro held 73.23% and Víctor Infante, founder of Bionaturis, kept 5.08%

Company
ADL is a biotechnological company specialising in fermentation and microbiology for the health sector. It employs 290 staff across a manufacturing plant in León, three research facilities in Jerez, San Sebastián and Barcelona, and a sales office in Boston, Massachusetts. The business generated revenues of €45.3m in 2019, with a significant increase from €14m in 2018, and recorded a positive EBITDA.

ADL Biopharma is the biopharmaceutical division of ADL and is focused on the development and production of antibiotics, as well as products and intermediates obtained from precision fermentation processes for the food, cosmetics and pharma industries.

The business operates one of the largest facilities for industrial fermentation in Europe and a new pilot plant to develop novel molecules.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Southern Europe
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• Kartesia
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