Lonza Group tables bid for US drug delivery technology company Catalent

Lonza Group AG, a Swiss specialty chemicals and life sciences company, has tabled a takeover bid for US drug delivery technology company Catalent Inc, Reuters yesterday reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Catalent and Lonza have so far failed to agree on the price, and there is no certainty that their negotiations will continue, the report said.
 
Following the report, Catalent shares surged by as much as 12 per cent, giving it a market cap of nearly $4 billion.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group had in 2007 acquired Catalent from Cardinal Health Inc for $3.3-billion before taking it public in 2014. Blackstone still owns a 20.82-per cent stake in the company.

The New Jersey-based company is a global provider of drug delivery technology and development solutions for drugs, biologics and consumer health products.

Catalent operates in 33 locations across five continents, producing more than 100 billion doses annually for nearly 7,000 customer products.

The company currently holds around 1,200 patents and patent applications and its customers include 41 of the top 50 biotech companies and 48 of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies.

Basel-based Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharma & biotech and specialty ingredient markets.

Its products and services range from active pharmaceutical ingredients and stem-cell therapies to drinking water sanitizers, from industrial preservatives to microbial control solutions, bacteria and other pathogens, from the manufacture of vitamin B compounds and organic personal care ingredients to agricultural services and products.

The Swiss and Singapore-listed company has a market cap of 8.7 billion Swiss Francs ($9 billion) and generated sales of CHF 3.8 billion in 2015.