Celltrion Withdraws Acquisition of Baxter Biopharma... Acquired by Private Equity Fund

CELLTRION has withdrawn from the acquisition bid for the BioPharma Solution business division of Baxter International, which it had been considering to secure production facilities in the United States.

[Photo by Baxter International]

On the 9th, CELLTRION announced through a public disclosure, "We had reviewed the acquisition of Baxter International's BioPharma Solution business division to secure stable global production facilities, but have decided not to proceed with it."

Baxter is recognized as the global leader in the intravenous solutions sector. Among its divisions, the BioPharma Solution business specializes in contract manufacturing (CMO) of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. CELLTRION also entrusted Baxter with the CMO of its autoimmune disease treatment 'Remsima' in 2017.

However, earlier this year, as Baxter sought to sell this division to clear debts, CELLTRION entered the bidding war, which was estimated to exceed $4 billion (approximately 5.3 trillion KRW). At that time, major competitors included global medical device manufacturer Thermo Fisher, private equity firms KKR, and The Carlyle Group.

Following the return of Chairman Seo Jung-jin to the management front in March, who expressed his intention to actively pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with funds of 4 to 5 trillion KRW raised through surplus cash and personal contributions, expectations grew. Chairman Seo stated, "We are observing several companies mainly in upstream and downstream businesses that have synergy with our existing operations, and after the first half of this year, the number of companies of interest will be narrowed down to about ten. We expect to begin fund deployment from the third quarter."

However, the final winners were other private equity firms Advent International and Warburg Pincus. They acquired the BioPharma Solution business division for $4.25 billion (approximately 5.6257 trillion KRW), exceeding the initially expected acquisition price.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.