Yahoo Finance Vectura medicine inhalers group sold to private equity for £1 billion
Inhalers can be used to administer many medicines
(PA Archive)The flood of private equity-backed takeovers sweeping through the London market gathered pace today as inhaler maker Vectura was snapped up by Carlyle for nearly £1 billion.
The pharmaceuticals firm follows Marston’s pub company, Asda and security giant G4S falling into private equity hands.
Vectura shareholders will get 155p a share, valuing the group’s equity at £958 million — a 27% premium to last night’s closing price.
“We believe that this is an attractive offer for Vectura shareholders,” said the target’s chairman Bruno Angelici.
The deal marks one of the first done at Carlyle for Simon Dingemans, the high-flying Goldman Sachs dealmaker who quit banking for GlaxoSmithKline, where he served as chief financial officer.
He joined Carlyle’s European buyout division last year in a hunt for deals here.
Coincidentally, Vectura recently won a major patent dispute with GSK and in 2019 hired a new chief executive to pursue a new strategy.
“We have followed the strategic changes under way at Vectura closely and fully support the focus on building a market leading inhalation specialist,” Dingemans said in a statement.
Carlyle has been a big buyer in the healthcare sector, along with other private equity firms who value its strong cash generative potential no matter what the economic weather.
JPMorgan and Rothschild advised Vectura on the deal
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