Just a couple of weeks ago, Piramal Enterprises was reportedly close to selling a chunk of its pharma services business to KKR. Now, the private equity firm TA Associates appears to have taken the lead in deal talks.
Boston-based TA is in discussions to buy about 20% of Piramal Pharma Solutions, a contract development and manufacturing organization, for as much as $500 million, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources.
Piramal is aiming to strike a deal by June, the sources told the news service. The company hired Rothschild in January to pursue the stake sale, hoping to gin up cash for future acquisitions.
RELATED: M&A-minded Piramal near $500M deal to sell pharma stake to KKR: report
Piramal Pharma maintains operations in North America, the U.K. and India, according to its website, and offers services from preclinical development through commercial manufacturing of APIs and finished product. Its sites are approved by regulators in the U.S., Europe and Japan, the company said.
Among its North American sites is an API facility in Riverview, Michigan, that Piramal purchased in 2016 for $53 million and expanded earlier this year. It plowed $10 million into new capacity for high-potency APIs and added 50 jobs there in January.
The Michigan expansion followed a $55 million investment in API capabilities worldwide. In 2017, the CDMO shelled out that amount to upgrade manufacturing automation and IT across its entire network. That round of spending included expanding its early R&D capabilities at a site in the U.K.
