Blue Wolf Capital to Create New CDMO Platform
September 25 2024 - 9:05AM
Business Wire
New platform would combine seven European
sites acquired from Recipharm with additional facilities in agreed
transaction for Synerlab
Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC (“Blue Wolf”), a middle market
private equity firm specializing in the industrial and healthcare
sectors, announced that it has finalized the acquisition of seven
European pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities from Recipharm, a
leading contract development and manufacturing organization
(“CDMO”).
The seven facilities acquired from Recipharm are Solna,
Stängnäs, H�ganäs, Karlskoga and Uppsala OTC Development in Sweden,
Pessac in France, and Parets in Spain. With a focus on the
production of oral solid, semi-solid, and liquid dosage form
pharmaceutical products, these sites serve over 120 customers
worldwide and have a strong track record of quality and regulatory
compliance.
In addition, Blue Wolf has also agreed, subject to regulatory
clearances, to acquire Synerlab, a CDMO headquartered in
Strasbourg, France, with six operating facilities in France and
Spain. Synerlab has expertise in manufacturing and development
across multiple dosage forms, in addition to niche technical
processes such as freeze drying and liquid sterile finished dosage
forms.
The two transactions mark a significant step forward in helping
advance Blue Wolf’s goal of building an industry-leading CDMO.
Blue Wolf also plans to name a new team of experienced
pharmaceutical executives who will lead the proposed combined
organization and serve on its board of directors. Bruce Vielle,
Chief Executive Officer of Synerlab, is expected to serve as Chief
Executive Officer of the future platform. He would be joined
by:
- Chief Commercial Officer Peter Kruger, previously Chief
Business Officer of the facilities Blue Wolf acquired from
Recipharm;
- Chief Financial Officer Rich Fenton, previously CFO for the TFL
Group and Norgren Europe;
- Chief Operating Officer Steve Leonard, previously Corporate
Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain at Integra
Life Sciences;
- Chief Strategy Officer Saurabh Singh, previously Vice President
of Strategy & Business Development for Avet Pharmaceuticals and
Director of M&A for AMRI; and
- Group Head of HR, Amy Mort, who previously served in a similar
role for the facilities Blue Wolf acquired from Recipharm.
Two long-time CDMO industry executives with deep operational and
commercial experience, William Marth and George Svokos, are
expected to join the board of directors.
Mr. Marth is President and Chief Operating Officer of
Resilience, a technology-focused biomanufacturing company. He was
previously the CEO of AMRI (now known as Curia) and spent 14 years
at Teva Pharmaceuticals, where he served as President and CEO of
Teva Americas.
Mr. Svokos is President and CEO of Avet Pharmaceuticals. He
previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial
Officer at AMRI and spent more than 30 years in leadership roles at
Teva across manufacturing, operations, sales and marketing, and
business development.
“I am delighted and enthusiastic to bring the team from the
seven Recipharm sites together with Synerlab to build a new CDMO
platform,” said Bruce Vielle, Chief Executive Officer of Synerlab.
“By honoring both cultures, we will create an even stronger and
more exciting one to serve our customers and patients.”
The proposed combined platform, to be headquartered in the UK,
would have a manufacturing and employee footprint diversified
across major Western European geographies and would serve as the
cornerstone of a new best-in-class CDMO. Blue Wolf will support
further growth with the goal of expanding the proposed platform’s
commercial reach to span across the entire European continent and
beyond.
“The opportunity to acquire multi-site, full-service CDMO assets
with a track record of delivering high-quality pharmaceutical
manufacturing solutions is exciting, and we see significant growth
potential in these facilities,” said Shashank Patel, Principal at
Blue Wolf. “We look forward to working together with our new
partners in Europe to build a best-in-class CDMO focused on
delivering outstanding service and exceptional high quality
pharmaceutical products to customers and patients worldwide.”
Blue Wolf expects to announce the new corporate name of this
platform by the end of the year. Terms of the transaction were not
disclosed. The Synerlab transaction is expected to close in Q4
2024, following regulatory approvals.
About Blue Wolf Capital Partners
Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC is a private equity firm that
focuses on value investments in middle market companies in the
healthcare and industrial sectors. The firm’s integrated team of
investment professionals and veteran operating executives work
collaboratively to generate returns by driving transformational
change using operational and strategic experience. Blue Wolf seeks
to invest in businesses that have catalysts for value creation that
involve organizational transformation, union or human capital
issues, government presence, or the opportunity to use ESG-informed
strategies. For additional information, please visit
www.bluewolfcapital.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240925679693/en/
Kate Spaziani Director, Government Affairs and Communications,
Blue Wolf Capital Partners kate@bluewolfcapital.com
Sam Reinhardt Vice President, Global Strategy Group
sreinhardt@globalstrategygroup.com 212-392-5270