Knight Therapeutics to Acquire Grupo Biotoscana, Establishing a Latin American Growth Platform
Knight Therapeutics Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which Knight will acquire a 51.21% interest in Biotoscana Investments S.A. (B3: GBIO33) from a controlling shareholder group that includes Advent International and Essex Woodlands, among others, for BRL 10.96 per share. This implies a 22.2% premium to GBT’s 30-day volume weighted average share price as of October 18, 2019. Knight will pay approximately BRL 596 million or C$189 million in cash consideration for the 51.21% controlling interest in GBT. Following completion of this transaction, Knight will launch a mandatory tender offer to acquire the remaining 48.79% interest in GBT from public shareholders on similar terms, for expected cash consideration of approximately BRL 568 million or C$180 million, assuming all public shareholders tender their shares.
Following completion of the acquisition of 100% of GBT, Knight expects to pay an aggregate equity purchase price of BRL 1,164 million or C$369 million(1) and an enterprise value of BRL 1,318 million or C$418 million, including net financial debt as at June 30, 2019. This represents an attractive purchase multiple of 8.5x GBT’s LTM adjusted EBITDA.
“This transformational acquisition establishes Knight as a premiere pan-American (ex-US) specialty pharmaceutical company. With scale and a strong regional infrastructure, we will be well positioned as the pan-American (ex-US) in-licensing partner of choice,” said Jonathan Ross Goodman, Chief Executive Officer of Knight. “The combination of Knight and GBT creates a compelling platform in large, fast growing markets. GBT is a natural strategic fit, with a similar business model to Knight and strong relationships with global partners.”
Grupo Biotoscana is a biopharmaceutical group that operates in the fast-growing Latin American region and focuses on rapidly growing market segments such as oncology and onco-hematology, infectious diseases and other specialty therapeutic areas. GBT is currently present throughout 10 Latin American countries where it operates under its companies Biotoscana, United Medical, LKM and DOSA.
“After an extensive search for opportunities and partners in Latin America, we are very excited to welcome GBT’s team of talented people, who are fundamentally aligned with Knight’s culture and core values”, commented Samira Sakhia, President of Knight. “GBT is a stand-alone successful business that we intend to add significant value to through our business development and operational expertise. We look forward to working with our new extended team to build a pan-American commercial solution for biotech and pharmaceutical companies with late-stage innovative therapeutics.”