Sanofi outlines plans for EuroAPI

Sanofi has announced that newly established API manufacturer EuroAPI will begin trading on the Euronext Paris on 6 May, subject to shareholder approval at a meeting three days before. Following this, EuroAPI will operate independently.

“This important step towards our listing is a key milestone for EuroAPI and is part of the deployment of our strategy and our independence from Sanofi,” said CEO Karl Rotthier.

The firm will be 58% owned by Sanofi shareholders following a share distribution in addition to a proposed €3.33/share cash dividend. Sanofi itself will retain a 30% stake and “will remain a long-term strategic partner, supporting EuroAPI’s growth ambitions as an independent company”. It represented nearly half of EuroAPI’s revenues in 2021.

Bpifrance, acting on behalf of the French state under the French Tech Sovereignty Convention of December 2020, will hold the remaining 12% for up to €150 million. The exact price will be determined based upon the thirty-day volume weighted average trading price, starting on 6 May. It will also have two board members.

L’Oréal, Sanofi’s largest shareholder, has committed to a lock-up period of one year. Bpifrance and Rotthier have committed to two years for their stakes.

EuroAPI is a major API supplier with a portfolio of about 200 APIs in its API Solutions and CDMO businesses, which account for about 75% and 25% of its turnover, respectively. It is active in both small and large molecules, and is claimed to be the seventh largest manufacturer in the global CDMO market in 2020.

The company employs about 3,350 at six manufacturing sites and development centres in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the UK. Revenues were about €893 million in 2021 and it is targeting €1 billion and a core EBITDA margin of at least 14% in 2022. Sanofi originally announced its intention to spin out EuroAPI in February 2021. On 17 March, the board voted unanimously to distribute 58% of its share capital via an additional extraordinary dividend in kind.