Investment firms sell pharmaceutical company to London-based investor

Investment firm ECM Partners, whose Cypriot presence is based in Nicosia, and private fund manager Metric Capital Partners announced on Monday that they have agreed to sell a majority stake in FAMAR, a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), to private equity investor MidEuropa.

Headquartered in London, with a presence in Warsaw and Bucharest, MidEuropa specialises in identifying investments across the healthcare, technology, services, and consumer sectors.

To date, the firm has raised and managed funds of over €6 billion and completed 45 investments and over 260 add-on acquisitions across 18 countries.

According to the announcement, current shareholders will continue to remain invested in FAMAR, saying that this demonstrates “their long-term commitment and confidence in FAMAR and its future potential”.

The parties involved stated that “FAMAR is a trusted partner to a diversified blue-chip client base of pharmaceutical companies operating in more than 80 international markets”.

In addition, the company provides a full-service offering across the CDMO value chain, with broad capabilities across multiple dosage forms including sterile, solids, semi-solids, and R&D services.

Moreover, it was noted that FAMAR employs approximately 1,900 people working across a network of six manufacturing sites located across southern Europe with two complementary research and development centres.

Commenting on the agreement, Konstantinos Rengis, Chief Executive Officer of FAMAR, thanked ECM and Metric for their partnership over the past four years.

“Their investment, support, and guidance have been crucial in advancing FAMAR as a European CDMO leader,” he said.

“We are excited to partner with MidEuropa to continue expanding and make FAMAR a world-leading CDMO platform, while contributing to the health and well-being of millions of patients worldwide,” he added.

It should be noted that as an investment firm, ECM Partners has a strategic focus on special situations across the Central and Southeastern European regions. Aside from Nicosia, it has a presence in Ljubljana, Nicosia, Athens and Zagreb.

In addition, since its inception in 2014, ECM has invested in excess of €920 million and completed 27 transactions across multiple asset classes.

Private fund manager Metric Capital Partners, meanwhile, has raised in excess of €2.6 billion of capital from its global investor base and operates out of six European offices.

Since it was originally launched in 2011, the firm has completed 44 investments across a variety of industries and geographies.

Peter Prock, Current Chairman of the Board of FAMAR, said that he is “pleased to see FAMAR open a new chapter of its impressive growth story”.

He continued by stating that he is “looking forward to supporting the management team and MidEuropa in their journey to open new markets and serve its customers and the wider community”.

Savvas Liasis, board chairman of ECM, explained that when the company initially entered into the ownership structure of the business in 2020, they “saw in FAMAR a high-quality business with an exceptional heritage of customer service in the pharmaceutical industry”.

“Through extensive turnaround efforts, we managed to expand its offering and drive growth by increasing investment, notably in R&D capabilities,” Liasis said, noting that “today FAMAR is a leading CDMO with world-class capabilities and quality of service”.

“I am confident that the company will continue to thrive under MidEuropa’s stewardship and we look forward to continuing our support of FAMAR’s talented management in the next phase of growth,” he added.

Finally, John Sinik, Managing Partner of Metric Capital Partners, said that the firm is “delighted to announce the sale of FAMAR to MidEuropa”.

He also praised the management team “for their remarkable achievements over the past four years, during which FAMAR has grown to become one of the leading CDMO companies in Europe”.

“We are confident that the company, with the support of MidEuropa, will continue driving growth and expanding into exciting new areas,” Sinik concluded.