Lonza repositions as pure play healthcare firm after specialty unit sale

Private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven to buy the CDMO's specialty ingredients business

"The sale of the Specialty Ingredients business will allow Lonza to focus on its position as a leading partner to the healthcare industry, and the free cash flows resulting from the sale will allow us to accelerate our strategic priorities," said Lonza CEO, Albert Baehny, in a statement.

Lonza is now focussing on increasing its competitive advantage through investment in growth projects, including capacity expansions and new technologies supporting the full life cycle of therapies.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

Only last month Lonza announced an agreement for the potential sale of its lipid finished dosage forms sites in Ploermel (France) and Edinburgh (UK) sites to NextPharma.

Lonza’s specialty ingredients business operates across 17 manufacturing sites globally, employing approximately 2,800 permanent staff.

The niche business provides microbial control solutions for professional hygiene and personal care products. It also offers the custom development and manufacturing of specialty chemicals and composites to support the electronics, aerospace, food and agrochemical industries.

The company says that it has, over time, worked hard to develop the structure of the speciality ingredients business and has expanded beyond its core market of microbial control actives, into microbial formulations and the much larger market of formulation additives.

In a statement, Lonza said that Both Bain Capital and Cinven have strong experience in the industrials sector and "showed strong and sustained interest since the beginning of the official sale process, thereby confirming that they are the best home for the business and the right transaction partner for Lonza."