24 July 20242 minute read

DLA Piper advises MidEuropa on FAMAR acquisition

DLA Piper has advised MidEuropa on the acquisition of a controlling stake in FAMAR, a well-established pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), from ECM Partners and Metric Capital Partners. MidEuropa will invest alongside the FAMAR management team and current shareholders, who will retain a minority stake.

FAMAR is a trusted partner to a diversified blue-chip client base of pharmaceutical companies operating in more than 80 international markets. The Company provides a full-service offering across the CDMO value-chain, with broad capabilities across multiple dosage forms including sterile, solids, semi-solids and R&D services. FAMAR employs c.1,900 people working across a network of six manufacturing sites located across southern Europe with two complementary R&D centers.

MidEuropa is a leading European private equity investor with deep roots in Central Europe and a long-term track record spanning 25 years. Headquartered in London, with a presence in Warsaw, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague and Zagreb, MidEuropa adopts a flexible pan-European and global approach to identify winning investments across the healthcare, technology, services and consumer sectors. To date, MidEuropa has raised and managed funds of over EUR6 billion, and completed 45 investments and over 250 add-on acquisitions across 18 countries.

UK based Co-Head of Private Equity Edward Griffiths and Legal Director Danny McMann led a multidisciplinary, cross-border DLA Piper team. The DLA Piper team also comprised partners Neil Campbell (Finance), Jean Paul Dresden (Tax), Matt Evans (Antitrust / FDI), Marco de Morpurgo (Italy, Lifesciences Regulatory), Paula Gonzalez de Castejón Llano-Ponte (Spain, Lifesciences and Commercial), Dr Orestis Omran (Greece), Senior Associate Cameron Spittal (Corporate) and many others across our Greek desk (based in Brussels) and our UK, Spanish, Italian, French and Luxembourg offices in particular. Other offices involved included Netherlands, UAE, Bahrain, China, Qatar, and Oman.

DLA Piper’s Private Equity team has acted on over 500 deals over the past 12 months and is ranked as the most active Private Equity law firm in Europe (2018-2023) and globally (2023) by PitchBook. With offices in over 40 countries across the world, the firm brings clients the right minds at the right time, advising on M&A through to all aspects of maintaining and growing platforms, wherever in the world they operate.