US-UK Deal Creates Expanded Drug Services Player

Pharmaceutical services company Packaging Coordinators Inc. (PCI) said it has reached a "definitive agreement" to acquire Penn Pharmaceutical Services based in Tredegar, Wales, with regional offices in New Hope, Pennsylvania, USA, and Tokyo, Japan. 

UK press reports said the deal is worth £127 million. 

The Welsh company offers both drug development and manufacturing services, including clinical and commercial dosage form manufacturing. Its activities also include clinical packaging, labeling and global storage, distribution and return drug services. 

PCI said Penn Pharma's drug development, manufacturing, and packaging services complement its own growth in clinical trial and commercial supply services, having expanded both its global operations in North America and Europe. 

The Philadelphia-based company has announced several key investments recently, including cold chain infrastructure expansions for both storage and logistics as well as support for refrigerated packaging operations.  PCI will also open a 97,000 square foot North American Storage and Distribution facility for investigational products in September of this year.

Penn Pharma also has made recent investments in assets, opening a new purpose-built contained manufacturing facility to serve market needs for specialist containment solutions for development and manufacturing of solid oral dose products containing highly potent compounds.

In 2014, Penn launched a capacity expansion project for large-scale commercial manufacturing and packaging.

PCI is principally owned by Frazier Healthcare, with shares owned by QIC Global Private Equity, Greenspring Associates and Thomas, McNerney & Partners. 

Penn Pharma is privately owned and operates from a single site facility in South Wales, UK where it employs around 300 staff.