With 500 employees at five locations, KD Pharma produces highly purified omega-3 fatty acids based on fish,
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The Saarland company KD Pharma is shelving its plans for an IPO. In view of the volatile environment on the capital markets, the manufacturer of products with omega-3 fatty acids is not going through an IPO. According to financial circles, the company favors selling it to another investor.
The Berlin private equity owner Capiton has selected interested parties who can submit binding offers in a few weeks. These include the British private equity firm Apax Partners and the US private equity group Carlyle. KD Pharma could be valued at more than 800 million euros in a deal. This corresponds to around 16 to 17 times its expected operating profit (Ebitda) for 2022 of around 50 million euros.
Capiton actually wanted to list KD Pharma in Switzerland and, with the help of the investment bank Jefferies, the major Swiss bank UBS and the investment company Evercore, pushed ahead with the preparations for a listing. However, the war in Ukraine made investors so nervous that IPOs are currently considered to be hardly feasible. However, when the sales process was initiated at the same time, the company met with great interest from financial investors.
With 500 employees at five locations, KD Pharma produces highly purified omega-3 fatty acids based on fish, which are used as so-called active ingredients (APIs) in medicines and food supplements. In the 1980s, the chemist Rudolf Krumbholz developed a technology that can be used to produce omega-3 fatty acids with a purity of up to 99.5 percent and founded KD Pharma with his partner Michael Dorscheid.
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Capiton bought the company in 2013 and strengthened it through acquisitions, such as the purchase of the Norwegian Marine Ingredients from the US-based Nutriceutical Holdings or Trigal Pharma, a manufacturer of medical cannabidiol (CBD).
The demand for fish oil capsules has increased in recent years, partly because unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids are considered heart and brain strengthening dietary supplements. According to market researchers, the global market will grow at an annual rate of 12.8 percent by 2028 to a total of 4.3 billion dollars.
KD Pharma, Capiton and the bidders declined to comment or were initially unavailable.
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