Actient Pharmaceuticals completes transaction to license, acquire pharmaceutical products from UCB

Jul 30 2010

GTCR, one of the country's leading private equity firms, announced today that Actient Pharmaceuticals, LLC has successfully completed a transaction to license and acquire six pharmaceutical products from UCB, Inc., a subsidiary of UCB SA, an international biopharmaceutical company based in Brussels, Belgium.

“GTCR's highly successful track record in branded pharmaceuticals and commitment to our growth will go a long way in helping us to achieve our vision of delivering clinically meaningful products to patients.”

The acquisition of the six on-market products is the first transaction for Actient Pharmaceuticals. The transaction provides Actient with an opportunity to set up a commercial pharmaceutical platform and a strategic asset in the urology space that can be leveraged through additional acquisitions. The company plans to expand the senior leadership team and hire a number of employees in support of the expanded product portfolio associated with the acquisition.

Actient is a management partnership formed with industry leader Ed Fiorentino. Prior to partnering with GTCR, Mr. Fiorentino was a corporate officer and 22-year veteran of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT). His senior-level management experience included Corporate Vice President of Pharmaceutical Commercial Operations, where he was responsible for all U.S. sales, marketing and new product planning. He also served as Senior Vice President and President of Abbott Diabetes Care, leading Abbott's global device business in this area. Most recently, Ed was Executive Vice President of TAP Pharmaceutical, an Abbott joint venture with Takeda Pharmaceutical.

"The transaction to license and acquire these products is a key first step in achieving our objective of building a leading specialty pharmaceutical company," added GTCR Principal, Dean Mihas. "The Actient management team led by Ed Fiorentino has an impressive track record of establishing and growing businesses and we're excited to be a partner in this transaction and are committed to providing the resources to further Actient's growth."

"I look forward to deepening Actient's partnership with GTCR through this initial transaction," noted Fiorentino. "GTCR's highly successful track record in branded pharmaceuticals and commitment to our growth will go a long way in helping us to achieve our vision of delivering clinically meaningful products to patients."

Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Hogan Lovells served as legal counsel to GTCR and Actient. Torreya Partners LLC served as financial advisor to GTCR and Actient. GE Capital and LBC Credit Partners provided the initial debt financing commitment in support of the acquisition. GTCR's investment in Actient to support the transaction was made from GTCR Fund IX, a private equity fund with $2.75 billion of committed capital.