After operating as a standalone business for 13 months, Schott AG’s medical packaging unit, Schott Pharma, will become a public company later this year, the Germany-based firm revealed (PDF) on Wednesday.
Schott will list the medical glass division on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange before the end of this year, subject to market conditions, the company said. The initial public offering (IPO) could draw a valuation of 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion), a source told Reuters in June.
In the last few years, Schott has capitalized on market trends, manufacturing vials for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, such as those made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. Schott Pharma also is producing pre-fillable glass syringes and cartridges for GLP-1 diabetes and obesity drugs, such as those created by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
“We are ideally positioned in the highly attractive market of injectable drugs,” Andreas Reisse, the CEO of Schott Pharma, said in a statement.
Last summer, the company's parent, Schott AG, formally set up a standalone business unit for the drug packaging group and dubbed it Schott Pharma. The parent company makes various types of glass for numerous industries. At the time, the company said the move could enable an IPO for the pharma glass division.
In fiscal year 2021, sales for the unit reached 650 million euros ($666 million). Revenues then jumped 27% to 821 million euros in 2022.
Through the first nine months of the company's current fiscal year, sales are at 670 million euros ($719 million), good for an 8% increase over the first three quarters a year ago. The company predicts its addressable market to increase 9% annually until 2026.
Schott AG CEO Frank Heinricht called the IPO a “key milestone” and said that the parent is “committed to remaining a long-term majority shareholder,” in Schott Pharma.
Schott Pharma has 16 manufacturing sites in 14 countries, including the United States, China, Germany and Hungary. It packages 13 billion units annually and employs 4,700 in 65 countries.