Montagu Private Equity announces the acquisition of LEO Animal Health
Montagu Private Equity (“Montagu”) has today agreed to acquire LEO Animal Health (to be renamed “VetXX”), a subsidiary of privately owned Danish pharmaceutical company LEO Pharma, for an undisclosed consideration.
Montagu will acquire LEO Animal Health in partnership with the company’s incumbent management team who will have a shareholding of approximately 12%. Jens Ingwersen will continue as chief executive of LEO Animal Health.
LEO Animal Health is a major European player within dermatology, ophthalmology and otology (skin, eye and ear diseases). It also produces pet diet food (through the brand SPECIFIC™) and pet care products for companion animals. All animal health products are distributed exclusively through veterinary surgeries.
The company is based in Ballerup and Uldum, Denmark, and has sales in more than 35 countries. Its veterinary medicine range includes well-established brands such as Canaural®, Fucithalmic® Vet, Fuciderm® Vet, Perlutex®, Malaseb® and Artrizin®. The range of SPECIFIC™ pet diet foods consists of complete life-stage diets for healthy cats and dogs as well as therapeutic diets for the management of clinical conditions.
“LEO Animal Health fits well into Montagu’s strategy of investing in high-quality companies with strong, long-term customer relationships and significant growth and development potential” said Matt Lyons, Investment Director at Montagu.
Jens Ingwersen, CEO of LEO Animal Health commented “I am pleased that the deal with Montagu has been concluded. We are convinced that Montagu’s financial resources, knowledge and expertise will help us to realise our goals and we are delighted to have their support”.
"LEO Animal Health has been a stable and solid contributor to LEO Pharma's earnings for a number of years, but the divestment will enable us to concentrate on our core business of safe and effective medicines for humans. In addition we believe its new ownership will be to the benefit of the company, its customers and its employees” said Ernst Lunding, LEO Pharma's CEO and President.
The investment in LEO Animal Health is Montagu’s second transaction in the Nordic region in recent months, following the strengthening of its Nordic team with the appointment of Matt Lyons and Peter Dahlberg. In February 2005 Montagu agreed to sell Finnish Chemicals to Kemira for €345 million, subject to competition clearance.
The divestment of LEO Animal Health is the last of a number of divestments made by LEO Pharma as it aims to concentrate on discovering, developing, producing and marketing safe and effective medicines for humans. In 1997 LEO Pharma sold its medical utilities division to Maersk Medical and in 1999 merged its pet food division with Arovit A/S (later sold to US-based Doane). In 2000 it divested its agro-division to Dutch Trouw and in January 2005 sold Panther Plast, a manufacturer of plastic goods, to a private investor group.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals.
SEB provided the debt facilities for the transaction.
Contacts
Jens Ingwersen, CEO, +45 7690 1100, jens.ingwersen@leo-pharma.com
Matt Lyons, Investment Director, +44 20 7336 9968, matt.lyons@montaguequity.com
Peter Dahlberg, Investment Manager, +44 20 7336 9987, peter.dahlberg@montaguequity.com
Adam Estrup, Group Communication Director, +45 7226 2353, adam.estrup@leo-pharma.com