Denmark– Novo Nordisk today announced that the company has agreed to acquire three fill-finish sites from Novo Holdings A/S (Novo Holdings) in connection with a transaction where Novo Holdings has agreed to acquire Catalent, Inc. (Catalent), a global contract development and manufacturing organisation headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey (US). Novo Nordisk and Catalent have a long-standing collaboration.
The acquisition of the filling sites is aligned with Novo Nordisk’s strategy of reaching more people living with diabetes and obesity with current and future treatments. It enables an expansion of the manufacturing capacity at scale and speed while providing future optionality and flexibility for Novo Nordisk’s existing supply network. The acquisition is expected to gradually increase Novo Nordisk’s filling capacity from 2026 and onwards.
The three manufacturing sites are specialised in the sterile filling of drugs and located in Anagni (Italy), Brussels (Belgium) and Bloomington (Indiana, US). The three sites employ more than 3,000 people and all have ongoing collaborations with Novo Nordisk. Under the terms of the agreement, Novo Nordisk will acquire the three manufacturing sites for an upfront payment of 11 billion USD.
“We are very pleased with the agreement to acquire the three Catalent manufacturing sites which will enable us to serve significantly more people living with diabetes and obesity in the future,“ said Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, president and chief executive officer at Novo Nordisk. “The acquisition complements the significant investments we are already doing in active pharmaceutical ingredients facilities, and the sites will provide strategic flexibility to our existing supply network.”
Contingent on the timing of closing, the acquisition is expected to have a low single-digit negative impact on operating profit growth in both 2024 and 2025. As the acquisition will be mainly debt-financed, the communicated share buyback programme of DKK 20 billion is not impacted.