DURHAM, NC and ST. LOUIS, MO, USA I August 27, 2014 I DPx Holdings B.V., privately owned by JLL Partners and Royal DSM, is pleased to announce that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire all shares of Gallus BioPharmaceuticals, LLC, a leading contract manufacturing company specializing in biologics and current portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners. Following the transaction, Patheon’s biologic drug substance business, a unit of DPx Holdings, will span four facilities in Europe, Australia and North America and include 550 employees globally.

DPx Holdings is the parent company of Patheon, DSM Fine Chemicals and Banner Life Sciences. The Patheon pharma services business provides commercial manufacturing, pharmaceutical product development services for a full array of solid and sterile dosage forms, and biologic and chemical drug substance development and manufacturing. The addition of Gallus BioPharmaceuticals makes Patheon a leading provider of process development as well as clinical and commercial scale manufacturing of mammalian cell culture derived products. Patheon can offer its customers a broad array of disposable manufacturing technology, as well as commercial scale production, throughout its global network.

“We are pleased to expand our biologics business with the acquisition of Gallus BioPharmaceuticals,” says Jim Mullen, CEO of DPx Holdings. “This transaction is in line with our strategy. We can now further support the needs of our customers with biologics projects by providing flexibility, leading technology solutions, commercial operations and an expanded footprint with two U.S. sites.”

Once the transaction is complete the two Gallus sites in St. Louis, Mo. and Princeton, N.J. will be the first Patheon biologic drug substance sites in the U.S. and will complement the two existing sites in Groningen, the Netherlands and Brisbane, Australia. Three of the four global sites each have nearly three decades of mammalian cell culture experience, while the fourth site in Brisbane was opened within the last year and is considered a facility of the future for biologics. Together these sites will support Patheon’s ongoing growth in biologics and will continue to support the needs of Patheon’s customers in this growing segment of the industry. In addition, Patheon will be able to leverage its expertise in disposable technology to expedite manufacturing as well as expand its capabilities in mid-scale flexible manufacturing.

“This is an exciting time as we join a world-class company and expand our offerings as one global team specializing in biologics,” says Mark R. Bamforth, president and CEO, Gallus BioPharmaceuticals. “We have built deep commercial and clinical manufacturing and process development capabilities that are highly complementary to Patheon’s biologics organization. We look forward to the ongoing success and growth by combining our knowledge, skills, technical expertise and capabilities to serve customers’ product needs.” 

Subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014. Wells Fargo Securities served as lead financial advisor to Gallus, with William Blair & Company and Frontier Management, Inc. serving as co-advisors. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisor to Gallus, the Gallus management team and Ridgemont Equity Partners. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as legal advisor to DPx Holdings.

About DPx Holdings B.V.

DPx Holdings B.V. is the privately held parent company of the Patheon, DSM Fine Chemicals and Banner Life Sciences businesses. The company is a leading provider of CDMO services, pharmaceutical products and products for other industries. DPx Holdings B.V. was founded in 2014 as a result of a deal between JLL Partners and Royal DSM. With a global headquarters in Durham, N.C., DPx Holdings B.V. has a footprint of more than 20 locations across North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia with more than 8,000 employees. DPx Holdings B.V. offers customers unsurpassed quality, integrated offerings and value through these three business units. For more information visit www.patheon.com/DPx.

About Patheon

Patheon is a leading provider of contract development and commercial manufacturing (CDMO) services to the global pharmaceutical industry for a full array of solid and sterile dosage forms. Patheon, a DPx Holdings B.V. business unit, encompasses the combined CMO capabilities and pharmaceutical product development services (PDS), as well as the Biosolutions and Biologics (BIO) business. For more information visit http://www.patheon.com.

About Gallus BioPharmaceuticals

Gallus BioPharmaceuticals, a portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners, is a leading contract manufacturing company offering exceptional contract services to its clients. Gallus’ world-class facility in St. Louis is distinguished by nearly three decades of biologics development and over a decade of commercial cGMP manufacturing, including the ongoing manufacturing of Stelara® and Remicade® for Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Gallus’ facility in Princeton, New Jersey, has three decades of experience in process development and clinical manufacturing of bulk and aseptic-filling of mAbs, as well as large and complex proteins such as Fc-fusion proteins, IgMs and collagens, plus over 20 years of experience of commercial manufacture including the supply of ProstaScint®. Both sites maintain exemplary quality and regulatory records. For more information visit http://www.gallusbiopharma.com.

SOURCE: DPx Holdings