American Capital ($ACAS), which already controls heparin maker Scientific Protein Laboratories, is expanding in the API industry. It will lay out $212 million to buy Germantown, WI-based Cambridge Major Laboratories.
The private equity investor said it was drawn to Cambridge Major Laboratories' growth in recent years and its FDA-approved facilities in the U.S. and Europe. American said the API maker last year produced 14 APIs for commercial drugs and more than 100 APIs for drugs in clinical trials.
"CML has experienced substantial growth since inception due to the company's continued expansion of its service offerings, operations and facilities," said Kyle Bradford, a principal in American Capital Buyouts Group.
Cambridge has a number of FDA-approved plants, including one it built in Germantown several years ago, which initially had 18,000 gallons of capacity.
American Capital also owns SPL, the heparin maker that in early 2011 received an FDA warning letter criticizing it for not promptly investigating a complaint about a lot of its product that a drugmaker said might be contaminated. The company responded to the FDA concerns quickly and received a closeout letter by the following August.
- here's the release