Permira merges Kedrion, BPL

The combined group will have more than EUR 1.1bn in revenues and 4,000 employees internationally.

Italian pharmaceutical company Kedrion was owned by the Marcucci family, with FSI investing in 2019 and 2021. FSI owned around a 24% stake.

The Marcucci family and FSI will also reinvest, alongside Permira's co-investor the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

BPL has been owned by Tiancheng International Investment (TII) since 2016.

Permira says it will support the combined entity to grow organically through internationalisation of its existing portfolio and new product development, as well as pursuing inorganic growth opportunities to become a diversified and specialist rare disease platform.

FSI CEO Maurizio Tamagnini said in a statement that Kedrion had EUR 250m in sales when he first met the Marcucci family in 2012. "In 10 years, the company quadrupled its size with more than 78% of the revenues abroad and a significant presence in the US."

Bond reports show that Kedrion was hit by the pandemic, with 2020 revenues down 14% to EUR 697m and adjusted EBITDA down 6% to EUR 160m. The group said this was caused by a reduction in hospital treatments from the pandemic and lower availability of plasma.

Its geographical revenue split that year was 37% for the US, 22% for Italy, 14% for the rest of the EU, and the remainder for the rest of world. The US was the hardest hit market in the first year of the pandemic with revenues down 26%.

The group expects this trend to continue for 2021, saying at the end of November that it maintains revenues and EBITDA in line with 2020.

BPL, on the other hand, saw 22% growth to GBP 328m in 2020, which it says was led by favourable trends on US intravenous immune globulin and Factor X deficiency product sales, according to filed reports from ultimate holding company Naga UK Topco in the UK.

Company
Kedrion and BPL are two pharmaceutical companies that manufacture therapeutic products from blood plasma. Based in Italy and the UK respectively, the combined company will produce medicines derived from human blood plasma to treat patients with rare and life-threatening conditions.

Kedrion, established in 2001 and headquartered in Lucca, has a portfolio of 21 products and 600 marketing authorisations globally. Its commercial footprint reaches 100 countries, with 80% through direct sales. It has six manufacturing plants and 29 collection centres in the US.

BPL, established in 2010 and headquartered in Elstree, has a portfolio of several rare disease products. It has a vertically integrated model, with 28 collection centres in the US, and a manufacturing campus in Elstree; it sells into the US, the UK's NHS and elsewhere through distribution partners.

Advisers
Equity – Morgan Stanley (M&A); EY (corporate finance); Latham & Watkins (legal); Giliberti Triscornia e Associati (financial due diligence).
Company (Kedrion) – Lazard (financial due diligence); Natixis (financial due diligence); Carnelutti (legal); Pedersoli (legal).
Company (BPL) – BofA Securities (financial due diligence); Goodwin Procter (legal).

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