Catalent, Inc. (NYSE: CTLT) announced a $315 million deal for MaSTherCell Global, a technology-focused cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization based in Gosselies, Belgium. It is backed by Great Point Partners, SFPI-FPIM (the Belgian Federal Holdings and Investment Company) and Orgenesis Inc. (NASDAQ: ORGS).
This is the Somerset, New Jersey-based CRO’s fifth deal since 2014, all of them for domestic targets, according to search results in our Healthcare Deals Database. Its most recent one was announced in April 2019, for Baltimore-based Paragon Bioservices, Inc., a contract research organization, for $1.2 billion.
Founded in 2011, MaSTherCell has a 25,000-square-foot facility in Gosselies, providing clinical services. It is currently building an adjacent, 60,000-square-foot commercial-scale facility, which is scheduled to open in 2021. It also has a 32,000 square foot facility in Houston, Texas. Its experience includes therapies based on chimeric antibody receptor-engineered T cells, T cell receptors, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and mesenchymal stem cells.
The acquisition is an all-cash transaction, which Catalent expects to finance with either a partial drawn down of its revolving credit facility or the proceeds from future capital-raising activity. As part these activities, Catalent has obtained $200 million of committed financing, subject to customary conditions, from JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.
