(Bloomberg) -- Stada Arzneimittel AG’s private equity owners have expanded the lineup to help lead a potential initial public offering of the German generic drugmaker, according to people familiar with the matter.
Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have been added as global coordinators, joining JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley in helping to arrange the possible share sale, the people said. Analyst meetings to prepare for the IPO are slated to start next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
Bain Capital and Cinven, the buyout firms that own Stada, have shifted their focus to an IPO after negotiations over a sale of the business to rival investment firm GTCR cooled, the people said.
Deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, according to the people. Representatives for Bain, Cinven, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, GTCR and Stada declined to comment.
A listing of Stada would rank as one of the biggest health-care transactions in Europe in recent years and cap a yearlong effort by Bain and Cinven to pursue a sale or listing of the business.
Bloomberg News reported last month that Bain and Cinven invited more banks to pitch for roles on the IPO. GTCR was earlier in advanced talks about a potential acquisition of Stada and had been discussing a valuation of roughly €10 billion ($11 billion), people with knowledge of the matter have said.
Any deal would follow Sanofi’s agreement to sell a controlling stake in its consumer health unit to Clayton Dubilier & Rice in a transaction valuing the Opella unit at about €16 billion.
Bain and Cinven agreed to buy Stada for €5.3 billion in 2017, a deal that gave them control of one of Europe’s last independent generic-drug businesses. Stada, which was founded in the late 19th century, is based in Bad Vilbel near Frankfurt and makes products including Snup, Nizoral and Grippostad. The company started trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 1997 and was delisted in 2020 after Bain and Cinven completed the take-private.
Under the ownership of the private equity firms, Stada has grown its business through several acquisitions including consumer health and skin care brands from GSK Plc, and the prescription and consumer health business of Biopharma Ukraine. It also bought a portfolio of products from Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.
--With assistance from Manuel Baigorri and Ryan Gould.
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