UK private equity group buys Doppel Farmaceutici citing EU CDMO market potential

07-Oct-2015 - Last updated on 08-Oct-2015 at 12:21 GMT

Doppel Farmaceutici manufacturing site in Cortemaggiore

Trilantic Capital Partners Europe has bought a majority stake in Doppel Farmaceutici, citing the growth potential of Europe’s contracting market as the driver.

Doppel Farmaceutici, headquartered just outside Piacenza in Northern Italy, provides contract development and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical industry, including formulation development and packaging.

UK-based private equity firm Trilantic bought a 90% stake in Doppel from previous shareholders, including long-time backer Pierluigi Busca and founder Paolo Lanfranchi. The latter will retain a 10% holding in the firm.

In an official statement Trilantic said the “the CDMO pharmaceutical sector is expected to grow significantly in the next five years.”

A spokewman for the private equity firm told us: "We believe Doppel is a solid platform that is competitive in the market thanks to its good R&D department and broad customer base. We think this, plus a solid good reputation and well invested manufacturing plants are key elements that allow Doppel to compete in the market."

He added that growth of Europe's contracting sector will be driven by the "emergence of new sets of players like start-ups and generic marketers applying a virtual supply chain model having no own manufacturing activities.

"The cost dimension is becoming increasingly important in the pharmaceutical industry given mounting pressures on unit prices" he added.

The spokesman also suggested that: "Manufacturing and supply chain management related activities more and more viewed by pharmaceutical companies and their financial stakeholders as contributing little to value creation and as non-core."

This creates demand for efficient contractors that are able to clear the "escalating regulatory hurdles" from pharmaceutical firms which "realize that major inefficiencies often plague their own operations detrimentally impacting their cost structure."

Doppel employs a staff of 460 people and operates two manufacturing sites in Cortemaggiore and Rozzano in Northern Italy.

According to a statement the privately-owned contractor generated revenue of €83.4m ($73.8m) and EBITDA of €12.3m, with 63% of its business coming from the domestic market.

Doppel is also involved in contract manufacturing for the medical device, cosmetics, food and nutritional supplements sectors through Procemsa Farmaceutici, in which it holds a 24.7% stake.