65 Equity Makes Europe Foray With Swiss Pharma Merger

(Bloomberg) — Asset manager 65 Equity Partners is backing Swiss pharmaceutical ingredient maker Healthcare Advanced Synthesis SA’s acquisition of Cerbios-Pharma SA, marking its first deal in Europe.

The investor, backed by by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, is financing HAS’s acquisition of Cerbios and will become a shareholder with about a 40% stake in the merged entity, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News. The Braglia family, which used to fully own HAS, will own the remainder of the new firm, with Cerbios holders selling out.

The deal values the combined company at about $380 million, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. HAS is a developer and producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and anti-cancer compounds, while Cerbios makes ingredients including in the area of antibody drug conjugates. 

“It’s very rare, at the get-go, to get an opportunity to put together two family-backed companies with the full buy-in of the owners,” 65 Equity’s European co-head Pascal Heberling said in an interview. “This, we hope, will become the blueprint of our dealmaking. This type of industrial consolidation is in our DNA.”

Investors have been keen to expand in the contract development and manufacturing organization sector with an increasing number of large drugmakers outsourcing these functions. Partners Group Holding AG bought a stake in UK pharmaceutical manufacturing services provider Sterling Pharma Solutions in 2023, while Bain Capital announced the acquisition of Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici, a developer and manufacturer of small molecule APIs and intermediates, in the same year. 

65 Equity plans on integrating HAS and Cerbios before pursuing other acquisitions in the broader CDMO space, Heberling said. 

“Our capital will pave the way for industry consolidation, beginning with this deal,” he said. It was important for the family business to find a partner that’s aligned with their vision, according to Riccardo Braglia, a board member of HAS.

Temasek launched the firm in 2021 with a broad mandate to support businesses willing to expand into Singapore and join the local stock exchange. 65 Equity is led by Chief Executive Officer Chong Lee Tan.

65 Equity manages about $3.3 billion and typically writes checks of $50 million to $150 million to back family-owned and founder-led companies. It has allocated about $1.5 billion of its funds under management for European and US investments.

(Updates with more comment in seventh paragraph.)

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