Herter & Co. advises Riemser Pharma GmbH (“Riemser”), a portfolio company of private equity group Ardian since 2012, on the refinancing of its existing financial indebtedness and partial repayment of the shareholder loans from Ardian’s original acquisition.
Supported by Herter & Co. a financing package of €286m, thereof €256m TLB, €10m RCF and €20m was structured. The financing has been arranged by UBS Investment Bank and is currently being syndicated.
Riemser is a specialty pharmaceutical company with a diversified product portfolio focusing on (supportive) oncology products and other niche pharmaceuticals. Core business activities are the sale, marketing and distribution of established pharmaceutical products. Riemser either acquires or in-licenses attractive products and maximizes their market potential via the company’s lifecycle-management capabilities. This unique business model implies low capital intensity and a high cash conversion.
Riemser markets its products in more than 60 countries via a strong European platform with its own activities in Germany, France and the United Kingdom complemented by a global sales partner network.
Today’s set-up is the result of the successful reorganization and strategic re-orientation driven by Ardian since the acquisition in 2012. Measures undertaken included the discontinuation of own contract manufacturing, company acquisitions in France and the United Kingdom as well as selective product acquisitions and in-licensing.
“Herter & Co. has been instrumental during the complex preparation phase which required detailed due diligence as well as external ratings. This was followed by a competitive process orchestrated by Herter & Co. resulting in very attractive financing terms and swiftly achieving financing certainty. After the successfully completed strategic re-orientation of Riemser, the new financing provides the necessary flexibility to now fully focus on the growth strategy”, said Christof Naményi, Managing Director of the Mid Cap Buyout Team at Ardian.
Herter & Co. acted as Sole Debt Adviser to Ardian on this transaction.
Ardian, founded in 1996 and led by Dominique Senequier, is an independent private investment company with assets of US$55bn managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company, which is majority-owned by its employees, keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and delivers investment performance to its global investors while fuelling growth in economies across the world. Ardian’s investment process embodies three values: excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship. Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 410 employees working through twelve offices in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Zurich, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Singapore, Jersey and Luxembourg. The company offers its 470 investors a diversified choice of funds covering the full range of asset classes through Ardian Direct Funds (comprising Ardian Mid Cap Buyout, Ardian Expansion, Ardian Growth and Ardian Co-Investment), Ardian Infrastructure, Ardian Funds of Funds (comprising primary, early secondary and secondary activities), Ardian Private Debt, Ardian Real Estate and customized mandate investment solutions with Ardian Mandates.