Denmark’s Novo A/S acquires Xellia Pharmaceuticals for $700 mn

Denmark's Novo A/S, the holding company of insulin producer Novo Nordisk, today acquired Norway-based Xellia Pharmaceuticals from private equity firm 3i and other shareholders for about $700 million. (See: 3i makes a 2.3x return on the sale of Xellia)

A 2008 spin-out from Alpharma Inc, Xellia has transformed itself from being an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer to a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on anti-infective therapies.

The Oslo-based company has over 100 years of experience and expertise in the supply of fermented and semi-synthetic finished dose products and active pharmaceutical ingredients for life-saving therapies against serious infections.

Novo said that Xellia's strategy for future growth is rooted in its leading product development competences, extensive manufacturing expertise and strong commercial partnerships.

Over the past years, Xellia has built a pipeline of generic anti-infective treatments, which are expected to be commercialised in the coming years.

Novo added that its investment will allow Xellia to enhance its focus on R&D and expand its global manufacturing footprint to further scale its finished-dosage-form (FDF) business.

Xellia sells its products in more than 70 countries to over 700 customers across the healthcare industry and generated revenues of $220 million in 2012.

It has operational and manufacturing facilities in Denmark, Hungary and China, and employs 900 people, of which 400 work in Denmark.

''Xellia strongly complements our portfolio of significant life science companies in which we have major investments. This acquisition is well aligned with our strategy, and is one of the largest investments made by Novo A/S to date,'' said Henrik Gürtler, CEO of Novo.

''We have successfully transitioned the business in order to become a world leader in the supply of certain anti-infective products. Now, as we focus on the future and the further development of the business, including the launch of our novel antibiotics pipeline, we look forward to working with Novo and benefitting from their expertise in the life science sector,'' said Carl-Åke Carlsson, CEO of Xellia.

Novo A/S, the holding company in the Novo Group, is responsible for the management of the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which are currently valued at more than $30 billion..

Besides being the major shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S provides seed and venture capital to development stage companies and takes significant stakes in well-established companies, within life science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial assets.