tiprankstipranks
M&A News: European Regulators Approve Novo Holdings’ Acquisition of Catalent (CTLT)
Market News

M&A News: European Regulators Approve Novo Holdings’ Acquisition of Catalent (CTLT)

Story Highlights

Earlier today, Catalent and Novo Holdings announced that European Regulators have granted unconditional approval for Novo Holdings to acquire Catalent for $16.5 billion.

Earlier today, Catalent (CTLT) and Novo Holdings announced that European Regulators have granted unconditional approval for Novo Holdings to acquire Catalent for $16.5 billion. Catalent is a U.S. contract drug manufacturer, while Novo Holdings is a prominent life sciences investment firm and the controlling shareholder of drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NVO).

Stay Ahead of the Market:

Catalent CEO Alessandro Maselli praised his team for their hard work and expressed excitement about the company’s future under Novo Holdings’ ownership by saying that the transition to a private company brings even greater opportunities. Novo Holdings’ Senior Partner, Jonathan Levy, echoed this optimism and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to helping Catalent deliver better outcomes for its customers and the patients they serve.

The acquisition, which is now one step closer after the European Commission’s approval, is expected to wrap up by the end of 2024, pending final regulatory sign-offs and standard closing conditions.

Novo Holdings Could Use the Diversification

As Novo Nordisk’s controlling shareholder, Novo Holdings was likely unhappy with recent study results showing that Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug Zepbound outperformed Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. And the outperformance was fairly substantial, with Zepbound users losing about 20% of their body weight, on average, compared to nearly 14% for Wegovy. As a result, it makes sense for Novo Holdings to diversify its holdings since these results could lead to a potential loss in market share for weight-loss drugs.

Is Novo Nordisk Stock a Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on NVO stock based on four Buys, two Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 16% rally in its share price over the past year, the average NVO price target of $154.25 per share implies 38.8% upside potential.

See more NVO analyst ratings

Related Articles

Latest News Feed

More Articles