Novasep Sells Viral Vector Manufacturing Business

Cleary Gottlieb represented Groupe Novasep SAS (Novasep), a portfolio company of Silver Point Capital and Blackrock, in the sale of the entire share capital of Henogen SA to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Thermo Fisher), for a total amount of approximately €725 million.

Novasep and Thermo Fisher entered into a share purchase agreement on December 16, 2020. The transaction successfully closed on January 15, 2021, following the satisfaction of customary conditions precedent.

Acquired in 2009 by Novasep, Henogen is a viral vector manufacturing business that provides contract manufacturing services for vaccines (including COVID-19 vaccines) and therapies to biotechnology companies and large biopharma customers. Based in Gosselies and Seneffe (Belgium), it produces on a large scale adeno associated virus, subunit, or live attenuated vaccines, as well as viral vectors. The company has approximately 400 employees and estimated 2020 revenues of €80 million.

Novasep is a global provider of services and technologies for the life sciences industry offering process development services, purification equipment and turnkey processes, contract manufacturing, and complex active molecule services.

Thermo Fisher is a leader in life sciences services with industry-leading brands such as Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, and Patheon. Thermo Fisher group has a global team of more than 75.000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $25 billion.