Coronavirus Turmoil Scuppers $3 Billion Europe Buyout Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Curium Pharma, the private equity-owned medical supplies firm, is deferring a sale of the company due to the coronavirus-induced market volatility.

The French company notified the remaining bidders Tuesday of its decision, it said in an emailed statement. Curium said its board will reassess the situation and its strategic options “in due course.” A sale of Curium, one of the most hotly contested deals in Europe this year, was initially expected to fetch at least $3 billion, Bloomberg News reported earlier.

Curium had asked Nordic Capital, Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners to submit final bids on Monday, people familiar with the matter said. As market conditions deteriorated, some suitors decided to offer less than they had in the earlier round. That prompted owner CapVest Ltd. to pull the process after it couldn’t achieve the value it was seeking, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

The shelved sale is the latest sign of how the coronavirus fallout is impacting dealmaking globally. Despite sitting on huge amounts of undeployed capital, private equity firms are getting increasingly nervous about volatility in the market and a potential tightening of financing available to fund transactions.

A sale of Curium would have meant a windfall for CapVest and was set to be one of the mid-market investment firm’s biggest exits since its inception in 1999. Representatives for Nordic Capital and CVC declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Bain didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Curium declined to comment beyond Tuesday’s statement.

Curium provides materials that are used to help diagnose cancer as well as heart, brain and bone diseases. The company was created following the 2017 merger of IBA Molecular with a Mallinckrodt Plc business in 2017.

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