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Sackler-Owned Mundipharma Taps Deutsche Bank for Sale

Sackler-Owned Mundipharma Taps Deutsche Bank for Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Mundipharma International Ltd., a global pharmaceutical company owned by the billionaire Sackler family, is working with Deutsche Bank AG as it weighs a sale of the business amid interest from potential buyers, people familiar with the matter said.

A sale of the Cambridge, U.K.-based business could fetch from $3 billion to $5 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The company has attracted initial interest from other pharmaceutical companies as well private equity firms, the people said.

While the company prefers to sell the entire business to a single buyer, it’s open to potential piecemeal deals depending on the offers, one of the people said. A formal process could kick off as soon as in the middle of this year, they said.

Details could still change as deliberations are at an early stage, the people said. Representatives for Deutsche Bank and closely-held Mundipharma declined to comment.

The Sackler family -- once known as global philanthropists backed by a fortune made from opioids and other drugs -- have offered to pay $3 billion as part of a $10 billion settlement to resolve lawsuits against them and Purdue Pharma LP.

The Sacklers have been accused of causing a national epidemic that’s led to more than 400,000 deaths, in part by overseeing a deceptive marketing campaign that pushed doctors to over-prescribe OxyContin and downplay its highly addictive nature. They’ve offered to sell their international pharmaceutical business, Mundipharma, to fund the agreement, according to a term sheet filed in bankruptcy court.

Mundipharma’s medicines cover therapeutic areas such as pain, respiratory, oncology as well as biosimilars, according to its website. Founded in the U.S. in 1952, the company has a presence in more than 120 countries and employs over 2,000 people in Europe.

The company has expanded in countries such as China, where it has provided support for government-backed pain management programs. In 2018, the group acquired the rights to distribute an opioid-based painkiller in China from German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal.

--With assistance from John Lauerman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fion Li at fli59@bloomberg.net, Jonas Bergman

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