CordenPharma for sale, reports claim

According to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, the International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) intends to sell CordenPharma. A valuation of around €3 billion has been cited. ICIG has, the paper said, has already had meetings with potential buyers and will send out information packs to them by the end January. Neither ICIG nor CordenPharma has made any comment.

CordenPharma unites all the GMP operations that ICIG offers to the pharmaceutical industry, while WeylChem covers all non-GMP operations for pharma and others. The business has seen major recent investment and it is suggested that ICIG had delayed a planned sale in order to complete the process. Key recent additions include:

* The drug products business of Vifor, with two sites in Switzerland and one in Portugal
* A €9.7 million expansion in development capabilities for the development and manufacture of highly potent oral solid drug products at Plankstadt, Germany, plus high potency filling equipment, hot melt extrusion and the ability to operate with organic solvents 
* Non-GMP peptide capacity at Fechenheim, Germany, enabling the firm to manufacture at hundreds of grams scale for tox studies and other non-clinical work, with a large expansion in GMP peptides also planned
* Increased peptide purification capabilities at the site Colorado, adding a one-metre column
* An R&D facility and a clinical-scale manufacturing facility for lipid nanoparticle formulation development at Caponago, near Milan
* Supercritical fluid chromatography capabilities at its Wiestal, Germany, and Chenôve, France, plus a flow chemistry centre of excellence and pilot flow facility at Chenôve