Johnson Matthey Closes Sale of Health Business
Johnson Matthey has completed the sale of its Health business to US-based private equity firm Altaris Capital Partners for £325 million. As part of the transaction, Johnson Matthey has retained a stake of approximately 30% in the business, which has been rebranded as Veranova.
Altaris Capital said Veranova is a leading CDMO for APIs, with a focus on specialty and complex products and providing a full spectrum of API and drug development services, from process design through to commercial manufacturing.
Veronova is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and has approximately 900 employees across seven development and manufacturing sites in North America, Europe and Asia.
Johnson Matthey announced the sale to Altaris last December having decided after a strategic review that the Health business was not core to its activities given that it operates in different markets from the rest of the group.
The UK company also disclosed last month that it is selling parts of its Battery Materials business in two separate transactions, one with EV Metals and the other with Nano One Materials.
Last April, the investment arm of US industrial group Standard Industries took a stake in Johnson Matthey in what was speculated as “some kind of move” on the London-based group. Neither Standard Industries nor Johnson Matthey have commented on the share purchase.
Standard Industries bought specialty chemical company W. R. Grace last year for $7 billion.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
