(Bloomberg) — BC Partners is nearing a deal to sell Dutch generic drugmaker Synthon International Holding BV to Goldman Sachs Asset Management, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The Goldman asset arm, or GSAM, has emerged as the likeliest buyer of Synthon after beating out other suitors, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The generic drugmaker could be valued at about €2 billion ($2.1 billion) in a transaction, the people said. BC Partners will likely retain a stake in the business following a deal, they said.
An announcement is likely in the coming days, they added. While discussions are at a final stage, they could still be delayed or fall apart, the people said. Representatives for BC Partners and GSAM declined to comment.
Founded in 1991, Synthon International develops and manufactures generic drugs for therapeutic areas including oncology, central nervous system and cardiovascular, its website shows. The Netherlands-based company has offices in Argentina, Chile, Czech, South Korea, Mexico and Spain.
BC Partners acquired a majority stake in Synthon International for $750 million in 2019 from the drugmaker’s founder, who remains invested as a minority shareholder.
The private equity firm has monetized €11 billion of assets over the past 18 months, Chief Operating Officer Fahim Ahmed said last week, including most recently selling its controlling stake in Canadian security services firm GardaWorld. It has also floated publisher Springer Nature in Germany, sold Italian frozen pastry and bakery products maker Forno d’Asolo and offloaded a stake in IMA Industria Macchine Automatiche to US merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners.
Bankers and direct lenders are going head-to-head to provide as much as €1 billion of debt financing to help fund a potential sale of Synthon, Bloomberg News reported this month.
(Updates with response from GSAM in third paragraph, details on other exits by BC Partners in sixth paragraph.)
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