On Monday ( 10th April) the boards of Stada, a German company that manufactures generic and over-the-counter drugs, have chosen the €66-a-share bid from Bain and Cinven, winning over the proposal from Advent International and Permira as it has been considered “the most financially appealing”.

According to Dealogic this deal is the largest private equity acquisition of a publicly traded European company in four years.

This deal has given Stada an enterprise value of of €369.3m.

“Our negotiating strategy over the last few weeks was very successful: We are very pleased that we have been able to increase the transaction value from approximately Euro 4.7 billion to more than Euro 5.3 billion by Euro 7.28 per share and have now reached the best offer for our shareholders”, said Ferdinand Oetker, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of STADA Arzneimittel AG in a press release

The deal is the last of a series of takeovers in the generic drug business in recent years:

• 2014, Abbott Laboratories agreed to sell its generic drug business outside the United States to Mylan
• In july 2015 Teva agrred to buy the generic drug business of Allergan
• Again in July 2015 Hikma Pharmaceuticals of Jordan agreed to acquire the generic drug business of the German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheims in the United States

The company employed 10,900 people  and reported sales of €2.2 billion in 2016.

Also, as part of their offer, Bain and Cinven have agreed to provide “financial and strategic support for possible acquisitions” with the aim to expand Stada’s product portfolio and also to  enter new markets.

The location of Stada’s headquarters and key business units would remain unchanged.

Source: Financial Times, The New York Times