Carlyle and PAI Partners have reached an agreement to sell women's health company Theramex to private equity firm Cinven for €2.6 billion, a valuation that is more than double what four buyers paid four years ago.
London-headquartered Theramex focuses on areas including menopause, fertility and osteoporosis. In 2022, Carlyle and PAI acquired the company for approximately €1.2 billion. A Tuesday announcement showed the two firms will jointly sell the company to Cinven. People familiar with the matter said the deal values Theramex at about €2.6 billion. Against a backdrop where private equity firms broadly struggle to exit assets within normal cycles, this transaction has delivered substantial returns to investors.
Investors at the two firms said they were initially optimistic about Theramex's expansion potential: on one hand, growing existing operations and optimizing the supply chain; on the other hand, replenishing the new product pipeline through means such as mergers and acquisitions. Sébastien Weil, a Paris-based partner at PAI and head of its healthcare team, said: "Women's health has long been neglected in the medical field, and many pharmaceutical companies simply equate women's health with contraception." He added: "Within the women's health track, there is strong social demand in sub-sectors such as menopause, osteoporosis and endometriosis... at the same time, there remains a large amount of unmet clinical need."
Theramex's treatment pipeline covers fertility, contraception and uterine health, with operations spanning more than 80 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, including hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicines used to relieve menopausal symptoms. Lubna Qunash, a Carlyle partner responsible for the European healthcare sector, said: "The growth path is divided into two parts: first, continuing to deepen the market based on the existing product portfolio, increasing treatment penetration and diagnosis rates; second, successfully launching innovative new drugs."
The sale of Theramex is another example in the recent wave of European private equity healthcare M&A. Similar transactions include Cap Vest's acquisition of German pharmaceutical company Stada from Bain Capital and Cinven for €10 billion, and GTCR's acquisition of Zentiva from Advent for €4.1 billion.
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