Following a long period of speculation, Lonza has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Lonza Specialty Ingredients (LSI) business to private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven for CHF 4.2 billion in order to focus entirely on healthcare. The deal is expected to close in 2H, subject to customary closing conditions.

Lonza has recently announced three specific investments in the pharma sector in recent weeks. It will build two new customer-dedicated conjugation suites for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) at Visp, Switzerland, while adding particle engineering and drug product development at two sites in the US.

Lonza has opened the first of two manufacturing suites at its main site in Visp, Switzerland, for the manufacture of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) linkers or payloads. This came shortly after an unrelated deal to manufacture antibodies to treat COVID-19 for AstraZeneca and the arrival of a new CEO with a Big Pharma background.