Novo Buys Xellia Pharmaceuticals for $700 Million

    By Clemens Bomsdorf 
 

COPENHAGEN--Denmark's privately-held holding company Novo A/S said Tuesday it has acquired Xellia Pharmaceuticals for $700 million from 3i Group PLC (III.LN) and other shareholders.

 
    MAIN FACTS: 

-Xellia develops and produces anti-infective products for multi-drug resistant infections.

-Novo A/S is the holding company of the Novo Group and is the major shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), Novozymes A/S (NZYM-B.KO) and Chr. Hansen A/S (CHR.KO). It is fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

-With Novo as owner, Xellia will enhance its focus on R&D and expand its global manufacturing footprint to further scale its finished-dosage-form (FDF) business.

-"The products that Xellia supplies...are manufactured by use of fermentation technologies, which is a manufacturing approach similar to that of Novo Nordisk, Novozymes and Chr. Hansen," said Novo CEO Henrik Gurtler.

-Novo will be a long-term owner of Xellia and will move the headquarters to Denmark.

-The transaction is expected to close in 3Q 2013.

Write to Clemens Bomsdorf at [e-mail]

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