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* Nordic Capital offers to buy Advanz Pharma
* Proposed deal worth about $2 bln including debt-source
* Proposal is the "best outcome" - Advanz
(Adds details on deal, background)
Jan 27 (Reuters) - Advanz Pharma on Wednesday recommended a
takeover proposal from Nordic Capital, making the private equity
fund a frontrunner to acquire the speciality drugmaker that
restructured its debt in 2019.
Nordic Capital said the equity purchase price for Advanz
Pharma was about $846 million. Including debt, the deal is worth
about $2 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.
London-based Advanz had attracted interest from a number of
private equity funds, including Carlyle and TDR, as its
creditors looked for a new owner, sources familiar with the
matter told Reuters last year.
"The proposal from Nordic Capital is considered by the
Advanz Pharma independent directors as the best outcome for all
shareholders, having had discussions with, and approaches from,
a variety of potential acquirors," Advanz Chairman Elmar Schnee
said.
The Advanz Pharma independent directors intend to recommend
unanimously that Advanz Pharma shareholders vote in favour of
the proposal, Advanz said.
Nordic Capital said the company's expertise in several
therapeutic areas, along with its direct sales access in Europe,
made it an attractive partner for commercialising complex
medicines.
Advanz Pharma, which was formed from the 2015 merger of
Concordia Healthcare and AMCO, makes drugs used in
endocrinology, urology, pain management and cardiology among
other therapeutic areas.
In 2018, the drugmaker, which was trading on Nasdaq as
Concordia, was delisted as part of a debt restructuring deal and
rebranded Advanz Pharma.
Under the offer from Nordic, shareholders would receive a
price of $17.26 per Advanz share.
Shareholders can also opt for a non-cash offer to receive
unlisted shares in Cidron Aida, the parent of the bidding
company, for each Advanz share up to a maximum of 20% of
Cidron's share capital.
Jefferies, is the lead financial adviser to Advanz,
with Barclays also acting as a financial adviser to the
company. Morgan Stanley & Co. International was the
financial adviser for Nordic Capital.
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur and Jane Merriman)
