Animal healthcare company Zoetis Inc. said Monday it is buying aquatic health specialist Pharmaq for $765 million on a debt-free basis. Pharmaq is majority owned by London private equity firm Permira, which acquired Pharmaq Holding AS for about €250 million ($274.8 million) from Orkla AS and Kverva AS in 2013. The sale of Pharmaq to Zoetis represents a return of a 3.2 times Permira’s invested capital, a source told The Deal’s Renee Cordes. Oslo, Norway-based Pharmaq has subsidiaries in Chile, the UK, Vietnam, Spain, Turkey, Panama and Hong Kong. Pharmaq is the market leader in sales of vaccines for farmed fish, a market segment growing 10% annually, according to the announcement. In 2014, Pharmaq had revenue of about $80 million. The company’s revenue rose at a compound annual growth rate of 17% from 2005 to 2014. Besides injectable vaccines, Pharmaq is also a provider of therapeutics and diagnostics, among others. In a statement, Zoetis CEO Juan Ramon Alaix said Pharmaq strengthens Zoetis’ core livestock business by ‘providing market leadership in aquatic health and a strong late-stage pipeline in the world’s largest category of protein and fastest growing animal health market.’ Florham Park, N.J.-based Zoetis, which was spun out of Pfizer Inc. in 2013, said it expects to complete the Pharmaq transaction on about Nov. 10.
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