Linklaters advises Novo Holdings on the merger control, foreign investment and foreign subsidies aspects of its US$16.5bn acquisition of Catalent
Linklaters has advised Novo Holdings A/S (“Novo Holdings”) on the merger control, foreign investment and foreign subsidies aspects of its acquisition of Catalent, Inc. (“Catalent”). The transaction was announced on 5 February 2024 and was subject to a number of merger control and foreign investment filings, as well as a foreign subsidies filing. Following the fulfilment of all regulatory conditions, the transaction closed on 18 December 2024.
Novo Holdings is a leading international life sciences investor, responsible for managing the assets and wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Catalent is a global contract development and manufacturing organisation headquartered in New Jersey, US. The acquisition of Catalent is the largest investment Novo Holdings has completed to date and the largest healthcare buyout in 2024, valued at approximately US$16.5bn. Following closing of the transaction, Catalent will be operated under private ownership, benefiting from access to additional capital and resources, to drive innovation and enhance offerings for the benefit of its customers, namely pharmaceutical companies and the patients they serve.
As part of the transaction, Novo Nordisk A/S, a global healthcare company controlled by Novo Holdings, will acquire three biological fill-finish sites from Novo Holdings to expand its manufacturing capacity at scale and speed for diabetes and obesity treatments.
The cross-practice and multi-jurisdictional Linklaters team that secured unconditional merger control clearances after intensive reviews in a number of jurisdictions was led by Antitrust & Foreign Investment partners Antonia Sherman in the US and Annamaria Mangiaracina in Brussels, and counsel Mark Daniel in London. They were supported in the US by William Huynh (counsel) and Anna Gooding (associate), as well as associates Joseph Nasca, Zita Petrahai, and Alexandria Johnson, and by Juliane Guderian (managing associate) and Erasmia Petousi (associate) in London/Brussels, as well as associates Marvin Berkel, Lucas Macharis, Marilena Nteve, and Maxime Liebaert in Brussels.
The core team was supported by FDI and FSR specialists in France (partner Fanny Mahler, managing associate Thibaud Troublaïewitch, and associate Gwendoline Vannarath), Italy (partner Lucio D'Amario and managing associate Giorgio Valoti), Germany (partner David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves, managing associate Ann-Christin Käser, and associate Alexander Fuchs) and Belgium (partners Ina Lunneryd and Lodewick Prompers, and associates Sari Corrijn, Florian Jonniaux, and Jihane Mirode).
