The merger would take place in the form of an acquisition of Novasep backed by PharmaZell's current majority shareholder, Bridgepoint Group. The private equity investor focusing on medium-sized companies has a local presence in the US, Europe and China.

Financial details of the proposed transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and consultations with employees, have not been disclosed. PharmaZell CEO Sylke Hassel would head the combined entity for which a new name has also not been revealed.

Combining the two business with altogether nearly 2,000 employees across seven production and R&D sites in Germany, France and Italy, along with two sites in India and one in the US, would create a leading, highly diversified and highly differentiated API manufacturing and CDMO platform potentially generating nearly €500m in revenue, the companies said.

The new pharma entity would be able to draw from what is described as a “comprehensive and broad technology suite for complex molecules and a global production footprint to support pharma and biotech customers over the complete lifecycle of a drug.”

Lyon-based Novasep specializes in developing and manufacturing complex small molecules predominantly for pharma and biotech customers, thereby leveraging a wide range of differentiated technologies including high energy and cryogenic chemistries and industrial scale chromatography.

Capabilities of the French company, which regards itself as a world leader in ADC and HPAPI, two fast-growing targeted cancer therapy segments, are said to be “highly complementary” to Raubling-based PharmaZell's expertise in the manufacturing of complex APIs requiring special handling procedures or technologies.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist