Deal Announcement 06/20: Pharma & MedTech

The Deal

The PwC M&A team is pleased to announce the successful Closing of Project Atlas, the sale of a significant participation in kfgn Group ("kfgn") to Pratia S.A. (“Pratia”), a subsidiary of Neuca S.A. ("NEUCA"). PwC M&A acted as exclusive financial advisor to the private shareholders of kfgn on this transaction.

The share purchase agreement for kfgn was signed on 9^th June 2020 and the transaction was closed on 15^th June 2020.

PwC M&A was engaged to run a structured investor process to find the best strategic partner for kfgn to support its further development into extended business offerings, capitalising on kfgn's already commenced digital services. The process was supported by the Valuations, Modelling & Analytics team of PwC. They helped to develop a comprehensive business model especially for future digital businesses. In parallel and via its large international network, PwC M&A approached selected potential buyers, proceeding with the strategically best fitting investors into the due diligence process. Despite a challenging deal environment caused by the global COVID-19 developments, PwC was able to orchestrate negotiations to derive a deal structure leading to a medium-term further integration of the two companies.

Going forward, in collaboration with Pratia, kfgn will continue to advance its digital capabilities to streamline the clinical trial process as well as expand its footprint to position itself as an international partner to the Pharma and MedTech industry. Pratia will gain a strong and established presence in Germany, supporting the company's objective to become the leading clinical research provider in Europe.

kfgn Group

Established in 1995, kfgn is a leading clinical research provider, comprising six outpatient research sites in Germany with a catchment area of over 13 million residents. As a specialist for clinical trials with strong competencies in patient recruitment, the company is a full-service provider covering study execution as well as overall study management. It has successfully conducted more than 700 trials in phases Ib-IV within a broad range of various indications.

Pratia

Pratia is a leading clinical research provider with seven research sites in Poland. The company has conducted over 700 phase II-IV clinical trials in numerous different indications. Pratia follows an ambitious expansion strategy, organically as well as inorganically, through i.a. co-founding Clinscience Technologies, a clinical trial service provider as well as gaining a footprint in Ukraine with six additional research sites. Pratia is part of NEUCA, a listed healthcare company in Poland, with focus on wholesale distribution of pharmaceuticals.

NEUCA

NEUCA is a Polish company with 25 years of tradition. NEUCA is active in numerous areas of the national healthcare market. NEUCA is a leader in the wholesale distribution of pharmaceuticals what is the core of its business activity. NEUCA holds the expert’s position in many of the healthcare market segments that it closely cooperates with as: wholesale trade, pharmaceuticals production, marketing, logistics, outpatient clinics network development, clinical trials, telemedicine, IT, advertisement and media. NEUCA has been listed on the WSE in Warsaw since 2004.

PwC

The global PricewaterhouseCoopers network is a worldwide association of independent auditing and consulting companies which together employ more than 250,000 people in 158 countries. Our global network comprises nearly 1,550 M&A professionals all over the world, realising approx. 400 successful transactions per year. We specialise in a wide range of independent M&A services including advice on acquisitions and disposals, mergers, public takeovers, privatisations as well as structured financing.

The PwC M&A team acted as exclusive financial advisors to the private shareholders of kfgn. The transaction was led by Alexander Wenzel (Partner) and executed by Stefan Pruden (Senior Associate), Eduard Schmidt (Associate) and Merle Rüder (Associate).

The PwC Valuations, Modelling & Analytics team comprised Dr. Volker Fitzner (Partner), Dr. Claus Kusnierz-Glaz (Senior Manager), Andreas Gernand (Senior Manager) and Felix Meier (Senior Associate).