Packaging Coordinators, Inc.

Cambrex operates in 14 locations across the globe and was picked up by Permira for $2 billion in 2019. Private equity company Permira is looking to offload its CDMO Cambrex in a sale that could value the latter company at up to $4 billion, according to a report over the weekend by the Financial Times.The sale effort comes as contract drug manufacturers benefit from the Trump administration’s onshoring push, with the president and others in the government repeatedly threatening to impose steep drug import tariffs.London-based private equity firm Permira is looking to get in on the rising investor interest in manufacturers such as Cambrex, the FT reported on Sept. 6.Permira is focused on attracting private equity buyers for Cambrex and has approached about a dozen possible suitors, the publication reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. While a sale is not guaranteed, the firm has hired advisors to launch the sale in the hopes of attracting a valuation of $4 billion. Permira did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment.The potential transaction suggests that private equity interest in CDMOs isn’t letting up anytime soon. This summer, Cambrex’s peer and competitor PCI Pharma Services picked up a strategic investment co-led by Bain Capital and Kohlberg & Partners in a deal that valued PCI at $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on July 14. Before that, Ampersand Capital Partners and GHO Capital Partners took on CDMO Avid Bioservices late last year, shortly after Ampersand purchased a Nektar Therapeutics facility for $90 million.And, in a headline M&A deal last year, CDMO giant Catalent sold itself to Novo Holdings for about $16.5 billion.Permira, meanwhile, first picked up Cambrex in 2019 in a $2.4 billion deal. Under Permira’s ownership, the CDMO has made a number of moves to adjust its footprint and reach. In 2023, Cambrex sold its drug product business unit to Delaware-based active pharmaceutical ingredient maker Noramco in a “strategic decision to focus on core areas of growth and investment,” CEO Thomas Loewald said at the time. More recently, the company expanded its own Snapdragon Chemistry API facility in Massachusetts to boost its capabilities for peptide therapies. Cambrex purchased Snapdragon and two of its plants in 2023 to expand its API offerings.Cambrex operates 14 sites across the globe, focusing on drug product and drug substance manufacturing as well as analytical services. 

THL Partners plans to continue Headlands Research’s expansion campaign and build up the company’s technology and infrastructure.\n After years of striking acquisitions to build up its site network, Headlands Research has now been bought itself. Headlands has been scooped up by private equity firm THL Partners, which entered an agreement to buy the clinical trial company from founding firm KKR, THL announced in an Aug. 14 release.THL plans to continue Headlands’ expansion campaign and build up the company’s technology and infrastructure, according to the release. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to be finalized this year.“Given the accelerated pace of research and development, innovative companies such as Headlands are critical to advancing clinical trials with precision, scale and flexibility,” Megan Preiner, managing director at THL, said in the release. KKR launched Headlands in 2018, and, since then, the site network has placed an emphasis on continuous growth. In recent years, the network has added sites in Puerto Rico, Baltimore and El Paso. Headlands has also headed up a clinical trial diversity project in collaboration with Pfizer, strategically adding sites in places like Orlando, Florida, specifically meant to serve historically underrepresented populations. THL’s other healthcare investments include Fisher Scientific, PCI Pharma Services, Syneos Health, CSafe, Adare Pharma Solutions and Red Nucleus, according to the release. Healthcare is one of the firm’s focus areas, along with financial technology and business solutions.

PCI did not disclose financial terms of the private transaction, though a media relations representative for the company described the investment round as “both sizable and significant.” With transatlantic expansions nearing completion and a new acquisition in the books, PCI Pharma Services has secured a confidence vote—and capital to go with it—from a slate of private equity heavy hitters.The Philadelphia-based CDMO has received a new strategic investment co-led by Bain Capital and the company’s resident lead investor Kohlberg, PCI said in a July 14 press release. Mubadala Investment Company also chipped in a “significant reinvestment,” while Partners Group will “continue to support the company with a minority investment," according to the release.PCI did not disclose the financial terms of the private transaction, though a media relations representative for the company described the investment round as “both sizable and significant.”The deal values PCI at $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing people close to the matter.While Bain is new to the mix, Kohlberg and Mubadala first invested in PCI back in 2020.Together, the three private equity firms are now partnering with PCI’s management to accelerate growth, build on the company’s customer service acumen and help more PCI clients get innovative biologics to market, according to the CDMO’s release.PCI says it will use the extra cash to pursue both internal and external projects, including growing its CDMO services suite and its geographic footprint. Looking ahead, the company aims to expand its existing injectable fill-finish capabilities, as well as those for high-potency and specialized manufacturing. In September, the CDMO unveiled a $365 million investment to bulk up in assembly and packaging of drug-device products, both at home and abroad.Aside from upgrades to existing sites in Pennsylvania and Illinois, the 2024 outlay also went toward the purchase of a packaging and assembly plant near Dublin and an expansion at the company’s existing CityNorth Dublin Campus in Ireland.At the time, PCI said it expected the expansions at its site in Rockford, Illinois, and the CityNorth campus in Ireland to be up and running by 2025’s third quarter. More recently, PCI acquired a 100% stake in Ajinomoto’s fill-finish contracting arm Ajinomoto Althea. The deal, for which financial terms weren’t disclosed, netted PCI its first production site in North America for prefilled syringes and cartridges, the CDMO said in late April.Outside the U.S., PCI boasts manufacturing operations in Australia, Canada, the U.K. and Europe.