Recordati Is Said to Draw Interest From Cinven, Bain for Stake
Recordati Is Said to Draw Interest From Cinven, Bain for Stake
(Bloomberg) -- Recordati SpA is drawing interest from buyout firms including Cinven and Bain Capital as the Italian family behind the drugmaker weighs options for its stake including a partial sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The billionaire Recordati family, which holds about 51 percent of the company through its investment vehicle Fimei SpA, is working with financial advisers in evaluating strategies, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The deliberations are at a preliminary stage and the size of a potential investment by the buyout firms remains unclear, they said.
No final decisions have been made and both the private equity firms and the Recordati family could decide against a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Milan-based Recordati, as well as Cinven and Bain Capital, declined to comment.
The suitors’ interest may have been renewed after the stock had dropped about 14 percent this year through yesterday, bringing Recordati’s market value close to $8 billion, after almost tripling in the previous three years. Previous attempts to sell the business, including a round of informal talks in 2016 amid interest from Asian buyers, failed to result in a transaction. The founder’s heirs, who have led the drugmaker since it was set up in 1926, said at the time that they weren’t planning to sell their controlling stake.
CVC Capital Partners held talks with Recordati over a possible takeover, but put the deal on hold, Reuters reported last month. The talks began last year, and CVC may re-examine the deal once the political situation stabilizes, Reuters said, citing people it didn’t identify.
Giovanni Recordati, the long-time chief executive of the firm, died in August 2016.
To contact the reporters on this story: Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net;Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net;Albertina Torsoli in Geneva at atorsoli@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, ;Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Chitra Somayaji
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