Stada receives fresh private equity bids of €3.7bn
German generic pharma group’s supervisory board meets on Wednesday
Two private equity consortiums have submitted fresh €3.7bn takeover offers to acquire German drugmaker Stada, setting the stage for a crucial supervisory board meeting at the generic maker of Viagra on Wednesday.
A group made up of Advent International and Permira and one comprised of Bain Capital and Cinven each made formal €58-a-share offers for the German company this week, according to people close to the matter.
Both bids include a plan to cover Stada’s dividend payments, a commitment to create an investment agreement that lays out specific promises to the company’s workforce, and a growth strategy.
The investment agreement is intended to help the private equity bidders address the concerns of some members of Stada’s supervisory board.
One person involved in the process said the bids also include statements that said the competing consortiums would consider raising their offers if they could conduct final due diligence.
Stada’s supervisory board, which recently took on Evercore Partners as advisers, is to meet on Wednesday to review the proposals. The board could decide to proceed to the final round of the auction in that meeting.
Stada declined to comment.
The intense battle among private equity players to secure the group highlights the increasingly competitive landscape for buyout firms trying to secure attractive assets in a world that has an ever smaller crop of palatable targets.
The auction process kicked off last month after Cinven submitted a non-binding bid. That was followed by offers from Bain and Advent.
To strengthen their offers, Bain and Cinven teamed up, while Advent joined forces with Permira.
A deal would be one of the larger public-to-private transactions by buyout firms, which have struggled to compete with strategic bidders in public auctions.
The private equity firms could not immediately be reached for comment.