Thermo Fisher to buy drug ingredients maker Patheon

Abstract

Thermo Fisher Scientific has reached a deal to acquire Patheon for $7.2 billion, including debt. The transaction will take Thermo Fisher, a leading maker of scientific instruments and lab supplies, into a completely new market: pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing. The deal, which is expected to close at the end of this year, combines Thermo Fisher, which has 55,000 employees and annual sales exceeding $18 billion, with Patheon, which has 9,000 employees, mostly in the U.S. and Europe, and annual sales of $1.9 billion. Patheon was created in late 2013 when the Dutch chemical maker DSM combined its active pharmaceutical ingredients business with the original Patheon, a Canadian contract formulator of drugs in finished dose form. Patheon was majority owned by the private equity firm JLL Partners. Today, DSM and JLL together own 73% of Patheon’s shares. They have agreed to accept Thermo Fisher’s $35.00-per-share offer, which is a 66%