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| LTS Lohmann |
It's been almost a yearlong contest, but a deal for patchmaker LTS Lohmann appears to be nearing the finish line. The private equity firm Nordic Capital is likely to beat out competitor Wendel for the deal, Bloomberg says, at a price of about $1.7 billion.
LTS Lohmann is a contract manufacturer that makes nicotine patches and other transdermal drugs, including treatments for Parkinson's disease and restless-legs syndrome. It also turns out film-based products. Part-owned by Novartis ($NVS), the company brings in about €286 million ($386.7 million) in annual sales.
For Nordic Capital, buying LTS Lohmann would offer the opportunity to merge those operations with a skin-patch maker it bought last year. Nordic and private equity partner Avista Capital Partners together snapped up Switzerland-based Acino, which turns out a birth-control patch for Bayer, among other products.
LTS Lohmann has a list of prestigious clients in addition to Novartis, including Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), Roche ($RHHBY) and Pfizer ($PFE). According to the news service, it employs 1,100 people.
Novartis and its partners, includin the German billionaire Dietmar Hopp, put LTS Lohmann on the block last spring. The bidding process is expected to wrap up within the next month, Bloomberg's sources say.
- see the Bloomberg story
Special Report: Pharma's top 10 M&A deals of 2013