Dive Brief:
- The Swiss life sciences company Lonza Group is reportedly seeking to buy the US contract research firm Catalent, according to Reuters.
- No price has been agreed on and the discussions could end without a deal, Reuters said. Lonza has been active in the U.S. recently, buying Arch Chemicals for $1.4 billion in 2011.
- Catalent stock rose on the news and the company has a market capitalization of just under $4 billion.
Dive Insight:
The CRO industry has seen significant consolidation in recent years and a buyout of Catalent would combine two of the bigger companies in the space.
Basel,Switzerland-based Lonza has about 40 manufacturing and R&D facilities worldwide, along with nearly 10,000 employees, according to the company. It offers custom development and API manufacturing to pharma and biotech companies.
Catalent also has an international base, with 31 sites and 8,700 employees—mostly in the U.S. and Europe. It earned $1.8 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, with net income of $212 million.
In a recent survey from BioPharma Dive of nearly 850 biopharma and life sciences researchers, executives and managers, nearly 75% of respondents expected the pace of CRO consolidation to increase over the next five years. Many were optimistic about this trend, with 51% saying further consolidation would be a net positive from a business standpoint.