Lonza Group AG, Basel, Switzerland has entered an agreement to acquire Capsugel from the private equity group KKR for $5.5 billion in cash, including refinancing of existing Capsugel debt of approximately $2 billion. The Boards of Directors of both Lonza and Capsugel have approved the transaction.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 and is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Lonza said the acquisition is in line with its stated strategy to accelerate growth and deliver value along the healthcare continuum by complementing its existing offerings and by opening up new market opportunities in the pharma and consumer healthcare and nutrition industries. With the acquisition of Capsugel, Lonza will add a trusted brand with a large breadth of technologies and will expand the market reach of its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and products businesses. It will also support Lonza’s strategic ambition of getting closer to the patient and end consumer.

The acquisition is designed to create a leading integrated, value-added solutions provider in drug development, formulation, delivery technologies and manufacturing for the global pharma and consumer healthcare industries. The combined business will be positioned to benefit from the dynamics in these industries and to anticipate and address technology trends in order to support the evolving needs of its customers, the companies said. It will provide additional value by offering an integrated portfolio of industry-leading technologies, from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) through excipients to dosage forms and delivery technologies.

Pfizer had previously sold Capsugel to KKR for nearly $2.38 billion in April 2011. Since that time Capsugel acquired a range of companies, including Bend Research Inc., which specializes in bioavailability enhancement, Xcelience, a CDMO, and Powdersize, a contract manufacturer with expertise in particle-size reduction and control technologies, as well as other new dosage technologies.

Today, with the addition of Capsugel’s oral dosage delivery technologies, including its leading position in hard capsule technologies, Lonza expects to become the partner of choice for its pharma customers along the entire value chain. The combined technologies and offerings will provide customers innovative solutions in both large and small molecules and strengthen Lonza’s ability to support the pharma industry by bringing new, differentiated medicines to market rapidly and efficiently.

In addition, the acquisition is expected to strengthen Lonza’s position in consumer healthcare and nutrition as Lonza becomes a fully integrated and innovative service provider of active ingredients, oral dosage forms, development services and delivery technologies. As a result, Lonza will be well positioned to meet the increasing need for optimized consumer health and nutrition through a wide offering of next-generation dosage forms. The combined business will also be able to leverage its bioavailability technology to create a new dietary ingredient-ready offering, as well as capitalize on its formulation expertise to develop new ingredients and to market new combination products.

The enlarged business would have had combined 2015 revenues of approximately CHF 4.8 billion and adjusted EBITDA of approximately CHF 1.1 billion with an enhanced margin profile. Lonza and Capsugel’s highly synergistic customer base and complementary business models will facilitate seamless integration. The combined business will be able to leverage the strong regulatory track record and global footprint of each company.

With approximately 3,600 employees and 13 facilities on three continents, Capsugel has a customer-centric, entrepreneurial and collaborative culture that aligns with Lonza’s corporate culture. Both companies focus on quality, operational excellence and delivering on promises.

“The acquisition of Capsugel meets Lonza’s strategic and financial goals,” said Lonza CEO Richard Ridinger. “It accelerates our healthcare continuum strategy by giving us broader exposure to the fast-growing pharma and consumer healthcare markets. We expect the transaction to be accretive to our core earnings per share in the first full year post closing.”

He explained further, “This new integrated approach will benefit our customers, who will gain from the simplicity and efficiency of working with one company that can provide world-leading support from APIs to excipients and dosage forms. The combined business will allow us to partner with our customers to help them bring highly differentiated products to market more quickly and efficiently.”

Guido Driesen, president and CEO of Capsugel, said, “This transaction brings together two leading companies that share a common vision—to deliver real value to customers by accelerating their ability to develop and commercialize innovative pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The combination of our complementary technology platforms will put us in a strong position to benefit from evolving trends in the pharma and consumer healthcare markets.”

He added, “Both companies enjoy a strong quality and regulatory track record, and we believe that the combination enables us to provide the most complete set of tailored and integrated solutions for our customers. We look forward to bringing together our talented teams to deliver science- and engineering-based solutions to customers for the benefit of the patients and consumers who use their products. I am personally committed to making this integration a success.”

Pete Stavros, member of KKR and head of the Industrials Investing Team, said, “Since acquiring Capsugel five years ago, we have supported Guido and his management team in repositioning the company from a global leader in hard capsules into a specialty CDMO. Capsugel has grown significantly by investing in innovation, strategic acquisitions, product development and geographic expansion. Now Capsugel is well positioned for the next phase of its growth, and we look forward to its continued success as a part of Lonza.”

Synergies
The bulk of the benefits resulting from the transaction will be gained from positive top-line and innovation synergies. The highly synergistic customer base, the expanded addressable market and the improved value proposition for the customer will allow Lonza to further leverage its current product and service offerings. Also the acquisition of Capsugel will allow cross-selling of existing products, combine manufacturing solutions and services and create an integrated value offering that merges Lonza’s ingredients with Capsugel’s dosage forms.

The primary initial focus of this transaction is to ensure a seamless integration while continuing the strong growth trajectory of the Capsugel business. Lonza believes that the step-by-step integration will preserve the strong innovation culture and lead to a combined top-line synergy potential of around CHF 100 million per annum in the mid- to long-term.

Lonza expects to achieve operating synergies of CHF ~30 million per annum, which are expected to be fully realized by year three, in the areas of corporate, procurement and IT, as well as various efficiency gains. In addition, tax synergies of CHF ~15 million per annum are expected.

Lonza anticipates that the transaction will be accretive to its CORE Earnings per Share (EPS) from the first full year post closing onwards and intends to retain its current dividend policy.

Financing and Approvals
The $5.5 billion all-cash acquisition of Capsugel will be financed with a combination of debt and equity financing. Lonza has committed debt financing for the full acquisition amount from BofA Merrill Lynch and UBS and plans to raise equity, which is fully underwritten by UBS and BofA Merrill Lynch for an amount up to CHF 3.3 billion.

Lonza’s Board of Directors is currently authorized to increase the share capital through the issuance of 5,000,000 fully paid-in registered shares. Lonza’s Board intends to seek approval for additional share capital at its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) in April 2017.

Lonza expects to retain a leverage profile around ~3x net debt/EBITDA at closing and to maintain its unofficial investment-grade credit profile assigned by a number of Swiss banks. Lonza believes that the strong projected cash flow of the combined company will enable rapid de-leveraging after the acquisition and continue to support all planned growth initiatives.

The financial package foresees the refinancing of Lonza’s current CHF 700 million revolving credit facility.