Latham Advises BC Partners on Sale of Majority Stake in Synthon
Latham & Watkins has advised BC Partners, a leading international investment firm, on its agreement with Goldman Sachs Alternatives, under which the private equity business at Goldman Sachs Alternatives will acquire a majority stake in Synthon, a leading international pharmaceutical company, from funds advised by BC Partners. BC Partners will retain a minority stake in Synthon to support future growth. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Latham team was led by London corporate partners Robbie McLaren and Maarten Overmars (whom both advised on the acquisition of Synthon by BC in 2019), with associates Samantha Peacock, Antonina Semyachkova, Leonid Lepold, and Aslihan Alparslan. Additional advice on technology and healthcare matters was provided by London partner Fiona MacLean and Brussels/Paris partner Eveline Van Keymeulen, with associates Jeanne Fabre, Lorenzo Meusburger, and Kate Burrell; on tax matters by London partner Aoife McCabe, Washington, D.C. partners Adam Kestenbaum and David Della Rocca, with associate Isabella Wong; on antitrust and FDI matters by Brussels partner Héctor Armengod and Hamburg partner Jana Dammann, with associates Jerome de Ponsay, Friederike Hammwohner, and Constance Dobelmann; on finance matters by London partner Angel Quek, with associate Corrie Eames; on sanctions matters by London partner Robert Price and Washington, D.C. counsel Andrew Galdes, with associates Amaryllis Bernitsa and Amulya Vadapalli; on employment matters by London partner Sarah Gadd, with associates Harriet Gray and Rebecca Fielding; and on compliance matters by London partner Clare Nida, with associate Matthew Unsworth.
The deal represents the latest high-profile transaction in which the firm’s London office has advised during an incredibly busy end to 2024. In the healthcare and life sciences sector alone, recent deals led by Latham from London include advising Novavax on the proposed sale of its manufacturing campus located in Bohumil, Jevany, Czech Republic, to Novo Nordisk; the arrangers and lenders on the senior secured loan and bond financing for Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s bid to acquire a 50% controlling stake in Opella, the consumer healthcare business of Sanofi; Novo Holdings on its agreement to acquire the Norwegian fish genetics company Benchmark Genetics from Benchmark Holdings plc for an enterprise value of up to £260 million; as well as advising Novo Holdings as the co-lead investor in the Series E Preferred Stock financing round for Quanta Dialysis Technologies.