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By Arno Schuetze and Pamela Barbaglia
FRANKFURT, Jan 27 (Reuters) - European private equity firm
Charterhouse has kicked off the sale of drugmaker Cooperation
Pharmaceutique Française as it seeks to capitalise on investor
appetite for pandemic-resilient healthcare assets, three sources
told Reuters.
The French business, known as Cooper, could be valued at 2
billion euros ($2.42 billion) or above, the financial sources
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Charterhouse, which bought Cooper in 2015, is working with
Rothschild as an adviser on the deal and HSBC is providing
staple financing, the sources said.
The buyout fund sent out confidential information packages
in early January with a view to collecting tentative bids for
the company in February, they said.
Charterhouse and its advisers declined to comment.
A number of rival private equity groups with a penchant for
healthcare are preparing for the auction of the maker of brands
such as Oenobiol food suppliments, Pouxit lice treatment or
Audispray ear cleanser.
Charterhouse strengthened Cooper's portfolio over the years
with the acquisition of over-the-counter drugs group Vemedia, a
number of Sanofi pharma brands and Switzerland's Laboratoires
Diepharmex.
Demand for Cooper's Baccide branded antibacterial solutions
products exploded in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged
Europe.
Cooper may be valued at 1.5-2 billion euros, including debt,
in a potential deal, representing a multiple of 10 to 12 times
the company's expected core earnings, two of the sources said,
while another said entreprise value could easily top 2 billion
euros.
Cooper, which has approximately 850 full time employees,
started as a pharmacists' cooperative outside Paris more than
100 years ago.
($1 = 0.8261 euros)
(Editing by Barbara Lewis)
