Good morning Eurohubsters, Craig McGlashan here with the Dealflow.
The week is shaping up to be a big one for pharmaceutical deals, as we have yet another deal to tell you about. The trend is in keeping with what we’ve been hearing from dealmakers – that while the healthcare sector in general will be resilient to recession and the rising cost of living, sub-sectors with lower headcounts such as pharma should outperform.
Pharma flurry. Elyan Partners announced it had completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Oncodesign Services via the ERES IV fund. The purchase was 61.58% of the firm’s share capital from the company’s main shareholders, including founder Philippe Genne.
Dijon, France-based Oncodesign Services is a contract research organisation specialising in drug discovery and preclinical services in oncology and immuno-inflammation.
Elyan Partners will file a simplified tender offer for the remaining shares. The price was increased to €14.42 per share from the initial estimate of €14.41, following the audit of the Oncodesign balance sheet as of 31 May.
To hear more about Elyan’s plans to expand Oncodesign Services, check out our full coverage here.
It’s been a busy time for pharma related deals. This week, we’ve already written about a consortium, led by Eric Goupil, executive chairman at Unither Pharmaceuticals, and comprising IK Partners, GIC, Keensight Capital and Parquest Capital, announcing the acquisition of Unither from Ardian.
This week has also seen Symeres, a Keensight Capital portfolio company, announce the acquisition of Exemplify BioPharma, a provider of integrated end-to-end CMC drug development deliverables to pharmaceutical and biotech firms.
For a roundup of pharma deals from earlier in the year, check out Nina Lindholm’s summary piece.
At this rate, she’ll be able to write another pharma round-up piece before long.
UK sale. The Oman Investment Authority, Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, is eyeing up assets in the UK, according to a Reuters report.
Ibrahim Al Eisri, director general of private equity at OIA, told Reuters that the fund was interested in expanding unlisted tech firms in the UK.
“We are looking at some deals right now, given the market provides an opportunity right now to enter,” he said offstage at FII, Saudi Arabia’s flagship annual investment conference.
Foreign interest in UK assets is something we’ve been writing a lot about, with much of the interest sparked by a weak pound, although it has recovered somewhat in recent days.
Take a look at some of our coverage here and here.
On top of the dealmaking interest, some private equity firms are bolstering their presence in London.
For more, check out my interview with Emmanuel Laillier, Tikehau Capital’s head of private equity, about the firm’s plans for its London office after his relocation there from Paris.
You can also read about Thoma Bravo’s opening of a London office.
Securing a deal. In finance, Credit Suisse is close to a deal to sell its securitised-product business to Apollo Global Management and PIMCO, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The bank will provide details of the deal later today, the report said. Apollo and PIMCO won over another group comprising Centerbridge Partners and life and reinsurance firm Martello Re, people familiar with the situation told the WSJ.
We’ve seen plenty of private equity interest in financial services firms lately and more could come, particularly in the payments sector.
“There’s been a lot of deal activity,” Jerry del Missier, founder and executive chairman of Copper Street Capital and a former COO of Barclays Bank, told me. “Ultimately, there will be a tremendous amount of consolidation. We’ve already seen a great deal. It wouldn’t surprise me that the trend of consolidation continues and that you have a conglomerate of payment systems that each have particular characteristics that also utilise best in breed technology to transcend markets.
“This sector is nowhere near done in terms of the impact on the financial services industry.”
Del Missier made those comments when I spoke to him about his firm’s exit from Italian payments company Satispay in late September. You can check out the full interview here.
Other recent finance deals we’ve covered include EQT’s closing of its merger with Baring Private Equity Asia, Blackstone’s paying $500 million for a 6 percent stake in Resolution Life, a global life and annuity insurance consolidation business and another deal from Copper Street – this time an investment in regulatory compliance company Thistle Initiatives.
Venturing forth. Now we have a message from our affiliate site Venture Capital Journal.
Hello, Eurohubsters! Craig’s colleague Larry Aragon here from Venture Capital Journal asking for your help in identifying great dealmakers, LPs and service providers under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the world of venture capital.
If you know someone great, please nominate them for our fourth annual Rising Stars feature. And please let us know as soon as possible, since the deadline for nominations is November 1.
Past honourees include Cathy Gao of Sapphire Ventures, Jonathan Andersin of DLA Piper, Tanya Kemp of San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System, Jessica Yi of Norwest Venture Partners, Dami Osunsanya of SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund and Sara Mattern of Foley Hoag.
Check out Rising Stars from prior years: 2022, 2021 and 2020. All the details about how to nominate someone are here. Questions? Shoot an email to vcjrisingstars@peimedia.com.
That’s it from me this week. Nina Lindholm will be with you tomorrow for Friday’s Dealflow.
Cheers,
Craig
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