Novo Holdings to Acquire Catalent in Deal Valued at $16.5 billion

On Feb. 5, 2024, Novo Holdings, a wholly owned company of Novo Nordisk Foundation and the parent company of Novo Nordisk, announced that it has entered into a merger agreement with Catalent under which Novo Holdings will acquire Catalent in an all-cash transaction. The transaction values Catalent at $16.5 billion.

Under the agreement, Novo Holdings will acquire all outstanding shares of Catalent at a price of $63.50 per share in cash, a premium of 16.5% to the closing price of Catalent’s common stock as of Feb. 2, 2024. The merger is expected to close by end of 2024, pending customary closing conditions. Following the close, shares of Catalent will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange, and Catalent will become a private company.

Novo Holdings intends to sell three of Catalent’s fill/finish sites and related assets acquired in the merger to Novo Nordisk shortly after the merger closes. The three sites are in Anagni, Italy; Bloomington, Ind., in the United States; and Brussels, Belgium.

“Over the past several years, Catalent has built a comprehensive end-to-end offering of services and capabilities to drive innovation in the healthcare system and improve patient outcomes. This transaction is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication to this mission, and I am incredibly excited for this next step in our journey. We look forward to benefiting from Novo Holdings’ significant resources to accelerate investment in our business and enhance key offerings as we continue to offer premium development and manufacturing solutions for pharma and biotech customers,” said Alessandro Maselli, president and CEO, Catalent, in a company press release.

“We are excited to partner with Catalent as it enters a new phase of growth and accelerates its mission to develop, manufacture, and supply products that help people live better and healthier lives. With our expertise and track record of investing in high quality life sciences businesses, we believe Catalent is a very good strategic fit … Importantly, our acquisition of Catalent is aligned with our mandate to invest in high quality life sciences companies for the benefit of the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s mission and philanthropic causes,” said Kasim Kutay, CEO, Novo Holdings, in the press release.

Source: Novo Holdings