EMC completes second major healthcare deal in a month
EMC Corporate Finance has completed the sale of Viridian Pharma Limited to Martindale Pharma, the UK-headquartered international specialty pharma company. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
It’s the second major healthcare-related deal EMC has completed in the last month following the £6m sale of leading UK condom manufacturer Pasante Healthcare to Malaysian company Karex Bhd.
Viridian, headquartered in Newport, Wales, was founded in 2002 by Mike Lanning, Dr Julian Smith and Tim Rockley. The company develops and distributes niche hospital pharmaceuticals, specialising in the obstetric practice, treatment of apnoea of prematurity and digestive complaints.
EMC’s Corporate Finance Director Michael Pay, who led the team advising Viridian on the sale, said: “Viridian’s shareholders wanted to retire from the business and leave it with an owner that would honour the reputation they have created in their markets. They have worked with Martindale Pharma before and so knew the buyer well, allowing them to act quickly and decisively throughout the process taking a commercial approach to the transaction.
“Our knowledge of and experience in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals sector undoubtedly helped us in getting both the Viridian and Pasante deals over the line within a few weeks of each other.
“We are delighted to have been involved in helping two very impressive, relatively new companies move on to the next stage of their development in excellent hands.”
Viridian founding director Mike Lanning said: “We consider Martindale Pharma is well-placed to take the business forward. We would like to thank Michael Pay and his hard-working team at EMC Corporate Finance for all the work they put in to ensure negotiations stayed on track and the deal seen through to a successful conclusion.”
Mike Harris, Martindale Pharma CEO, added: “We would like to thank Michael Pay and EMC Corporate Finance for bringing us this opportunity and facilitating the deal through to a successful conclusion. Throughout the process they worked to overcome issues and ensure that a commercial approach was taken by the vendors.”
“This acquisition enables us to expand and strengthen our product range of essential medicines. Viridian has created a portfolio of valuable products which are a very good fit for our hospital-initiated medicines portfolio and can be marketed through our UK organisation as well as our international partner network.”
Legal support for the deal was provided by Smith Partnership (Fraser Cunningham and Mark Wilcock) and accountancy support by Kreston Reeves (Steve Kirkham and Chris Whippy) acting for shareholders of Viridian. PriceWaterhouse Coopers (Brendan O’Driscoll and Manuela Munteanu) and Wortley Byers (Sue Dowman and Elizabeth de Cruz ) acted for Martindale Pharm.