AESICA Pharmaceuticals Limited (Aesica) is a pharmaceutical contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) headquartered in Newcastle. The company was initially founded in 2004 following the LDC-backed management buyout (MBO) of BASF’s production facility in Cramlington, Northumberland. The MBO was led by the current chief executive, Dr Robert Hardy.
Since the MBO Aesica has grown through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions to its
current position as a provider of fully integrated CMO services including API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) development and manufacturing and formulation (finished dosage) development and manufacturing to a diverse range of global pharmaceutical companies. The company now operates from six sites in the UK, Germany and Italy.
The trend for large pharmaceutical companies to increasingly move away from the fully integrated model, to concentrate on their core competencies of R&D and brand development, has increased their reliance on third party suppliers, such as Aesica, across the value chain whilst also increasing the number of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities for sale.
During the first quarter of 2011 Aesica completed the acquisition of three manufacturing sites in Germany and Italy from the Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB SA. This acquisition allowed Aesica to extend its site network beyond the UK for the first time, generate a step change in its formulation capabilities and establish a strategic partnership with UCB. The corporate finance team, led by Paul Mankin, were appointed to secure the bank facilities required to finance this transaction.
In a separate engagement the corporate finance team were also retained to advise the company on identifying a new private equity partner and to manage a process to facilitate LDC’s exit. The PwC transaction services team, led by Nigel Ward, were also appointed to perform vendor financial due diligence services. Silverfleet Capital were selected as the new Private Equity investor and the transaction successfully exchanged contracts at the end of September pending German regulatory clearance which was obtained in October.
Dr Robert Hardy, CEO of Aesica, said: “Aesica is founded on over 30 years of manufacturing expertise.
Most recently acquisitions of manufacturing sites in Germany and Italy demonstrate our commitment to enhancing Aesica’s service offering to the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Our long term strategic plan was to establish a manufacturing presence in the US and Asia in 2012 and with the support from Silverfleet Capital we can continue to expand into new markets, evolve and grow more swiftly.”
Paul Mankin, PwC corporate finance partner said “This is an excellent business and we are proud to have been a part of facilitating its future growth.”