Gerresheimer AG, a partner to the global pharmacy and healthcare industry, will further extend its pharmaceutical packaging business with the acquisition of Centor. Gerresheimer has reached an agreement with Nemera Development S.A. to acquire 100% of the share capital of Centor US Holding.

“Centor is the highly profitable market leader for plastic vials and closures in the prescription retail market,” said Uwe Röhrhoff, CEO of Gerresheimer. “This is a perfect fit to extend our product offering from packaging of parenterals to the packaging of oral drugs in the U.S. We expect that this acquisition will increase shareholder value significantly.”

Founded in 1968 and based in Perrysburg, Ohio, Centor is a manufacturer of plastic vials and closures for oral drugs in the prescription retail market. The US prescription industry is structured around the established “pour-and-count” system, whereby the exact number of prescribed oral drugs is delivered to patients in plastic vials.

Centor has a superior product portfolio, including “Screw–Loc” and “1-Clic,” the two leading products in the US plastic vials market. Centor serves national and regional pharmacy chains, supermarkets and wholesalers. Centor is a carve-out of Nemera Group, a former business of Rexam Healthcare divested in 2014. Centor’s annual revenue in 2014 amounted to USD 167 million (pro forma).

The total consideration amounts to USD 725 million cash-free and debt-free. The enterprise value underlying the transaction represents approximately 9.8 times LTM June 2015 EBITA (pro forma). It will be an all cash acquisition which is fully debt financed.

A quick deleveraging after the acquisition is expected driven by Gerresheimer’s high cash generation. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected during the fourth quarter of financial year 2015. The transaction is expected to be adjusted EPS accretive by a low double digits percentage already in financial year 2016. Centor will be integrated in the “Plastics & Devices Division” of Gerresheimer.

“We are happy to join the Gerresheimer Group with its high expertise in primary pharmaceutical packaging,” said Paul Arsenault, president of Centor. “In the future we will contribute to Gerresheimer’s success with our market leadership in the North American prescription plastic vial retail market.”

Financial outlook
Gerresheimer’s expectations for financial year 2015 remain the same: Gerresheimer anticipates organic revenue growth of between 1% and 3%. This corresponds to a revenue corridor of some EUR 1,300 million to EUR 1,330 million. Regarding adjusted EBITDA, Gerresheimer expects an increase to a target corridor of EUR 255 million to EUR 265 million at constant exchange rates. Capital expenditure in financial year 2015 is forecast to represent around 9% to 10% of revenues at constant exchange rates. The Centor acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of financial year 2015 and any contribution in Q4 2015 would increase the reported figures.

Gerresheimer AG
www.gerresheimer.com