Linklaters advises Novo Holdings on the merger control and foreign investment aspects of its US$16.5bn acquisition of Catalent

Linklaters is advising Novo Holdings A/S (“Novo Holdings”) on the merger control, foreign investment and foreign subsidies aspects of its proposed acquisition of Catalent, Inc. (“Catalent”), a global contract development and manufacturing organisation headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, US. The deal will be effected by means of an all-cash transaction that values Catalent at approximately US$16.5bn and is expected to close toward the end of this year, subject to customary closing conditions including receipt of required regulatory clearances.

Novo Holdings is a leading international life science investor, responsible for managing the assets and wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The acquisition of Catalent will be the largest investment Novo Holdings has completed to date. As part of the transaction, Novo Nordisk A/S (which is controlled by Novo Holdings) has agreed to acquire three biological fill-finish sites from Novo Holdings.

The cross-practice and multi-jurisdictional Linklaters team was led by Antitrust and Foreign Investment partners Antonia Sherman in the US and Annamaria Mangiaracina in Brussels and counsel Mark Daniel in London; supported in the US by William Huynh (counsel) and Anna Gooding (associate) and by Erasmia Petousi (associate) and Eoin O'Reilly (associate) in London and Brussels respectively.

The core team was supported by FDI and FSR specialists in France (partner Fanny Mahler, managing associate Thibaud Troublaïewitch, associate Athanase de Guitaut), Italy (partner Lucio D'Amario, managing associate Giorgio Valoti, associate Jacopo Cislaghi), Germany (managing associates Ann-Christin Käser and David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves, associate Alexander Fuchs) and Belgium (counsels Ina Lunneryd and Lodewick Prompers, associates Sari Corrijn and Florian Jonniaux).