Cambrex To Acquire CDMO Avista Pharma Solutions for $252 Million
Cambrex, a contract manufacturing organization of small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and drug products, has agreed to acquire Avista Pharma Solutions, a Durham, North Carolina-headquartered contract testing, development, and manufacturing organization, for approximately $252 million.
With this acquisition, Cambrex will enter the market for early-stage small-molecule development and testing services. Avista offers a suite of services ranging from API and drug-product development and cGMP manufacturing to stand-alone analytical, microbiology testing and solid-state sciences. The acquisition of Avista supports Cambrex as a fully integrated small-molecule contract development and manufacturing organization across the entire drug lifecycle.
Avista operates four facilities located in the following: Durham, North Carolina; Longmont, Colorado; Agawam, Massachusetts; and Edinburgh, Scotland; in total comprising over 200,000 square feet of space. Avista has worked on more than 200 small molecules for approximately 180 customers so far in 2018, providing some combination of analytical testing, early-stage process chemistry, formulation development, manufacturing, or solid-state chemistry services. Including the microbiological testing business, Avista has over 400 active customers and is expected to generate approximately $65 million in annual revenue in 2018. Avista’s 330-person workforce will join Cambrex’s 1,700 employees across the US and Europe. Avista is a portfolio company of Ampersand Capital Partners, a healthcare-focused private equity firm.
Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur during the fourth quarter of 2018.
This is the second large-scale acquisition by Cambrex in 2018. In September (2018), it completed its acquisition of Halo Pharma, a Whippany, New Jersey-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organization, for approximately $425 million. The addition of Halo added formulation development and finished dosage manufacturing capabilities to Cambrex’s existing global API manufacturing network.
Source: Cambrex