BC sells Pharmathen to Partners Group in EUR 1.6bn deal

BC Partners acquired Pharmathen via BC European Partners IX and has netted returns of 4x the money it invested. The fund held a final close on its hard-cap of €6.5bn in February 2012.

The fund was fully deployed as of June 2018, according to Unquote Data. Remaining portfolio companies in the 2010-vintage fund include Elysium Healthcare; according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket, the company was up for sale as of January 2021, with Macquarie advising.

Pharmathen's valuation is equivalent to 20x the company's EBITDA. Pharmathen was valued at around EUR 475m when BC Partners acquired it in 2015, corresponding to an EBITDA multiple of more than 10x its EUR 46m 2014 EBITDA.

Under BC's ownership, the company sold its Greek commercial operations to a consortium of private investors in 2017. In addition, BC assisted the company with its European expansion, according to a statement.

Partners Group is deploying equity via strategies including Partners Group Direct Equity 2019, as well as several other products and corresponding bespoke mandates. The fund was registered in June 2018 with a EUR 5bn target, according to Unquote Data.

Partners Group said in a statement that it intends to support the company with its international expansion, with a focus on the US market.

This is not the first time in recent years that Partners Group has acquired an asset formerly owned by BC; as reported, in September 2020, French dining group Côte Restaurants was acquired by Partners Group, having been owned by BC since July 2015.

BC Partners' sale of Pharmathen follows the GP's formation of a new single-asset acquisition fund with commitments of more than €1bn to buy publishing house Springer Nature, which the GP acquired in 2013 via the same fund in which it previously held Pharmathen.

BC is a minority shareholder in Acuris, the parent company of Unquote.

Company
Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Athens, Pharmathen develops a range of generic pharmaceutical products. Its portfolio of around 80 products includes a range of tablets, capsules and eye drops. In addition, the company provides registration, manufacturing and lifecycle management services, serving more than 215 blue-chip pharmaceutical companies.

According to its latest publicly available financial statements, Pharmathen posted 2020 revenues of EUR 227m, compared with EUR 205m in 2019, marking an increase of 11%. Its EBITDA in 2020 stood at EUR 59m, versus EUR 56m in 2019.

People
BC Partners – Nikos Stathopoulos (partner, executive committee member).
Partners Group – Pascal Noth (managing director); Remy Hauser (managing director, private equity Europe).
Pharmathen – Dimitris Kadis (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Ropes & Gray (legal); EY (tax).
Vendor – Jefferies (M&A); Kirkland & Ellis (legal); PwC (financial due diligence).

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