It appears an IPO is back on the table for German generics maker Stada.
The company is “preparing an IPO in the autumn, provided the general conditions are right,” CEO Peter Goldschmidt told German news agency dpa, as quoted by Reuters.
Stada, owned by private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven, has spent much of the year toying with either an IPO or a buyout. The company was ready to file its intention for a German IPO back in March, but it put the plans on hold after being advised against the move due to market volatility tied to geopolitical events, people familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time.
In July, private equity investor CapVest Partners swooped in with talks to take on a majority stake in the company in a deal that could have valued Stada at about 10 billion euros ($11.7 billion), including debt, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Bain Capital and Cinven originally took over Stada for 5.32 billion euros ($5.63 billion) in 2017, but they've reportedly been weighing options to exit the business since 2023.
The CapVest talks ultimately fell through, leaving Stada to pivot back to IPO preparations, Bloomberg reported about a week ago. The negotiations broke down due to differences in valuation and the structure of the proposal, the news service said.
The revived IPO musings come as Stada reported “broad-based growth in the first half of this year” despite a “volatile" market, Goldschmidt said in the company’s Thursday earnings release.
Overall, the company posted 6% year-over-year revenue growth to 2.12 billion euros ($2.48 billion), with the performance aided by the July 2024 launch of Alvotech-partnered Uzpruvo, a biosimilar to Johnson & Johnson’s immunology powerhouse Stelara.
Stada’s Alvotech alliance also includes select ex-U.S. commercial rights to a biosimilar candidate of Amgen’s bone meds Prolia and Xgeva, plus rights to Alvotech’s Humira biosimilar in certain countries in Central Asia.
Over the first half of the year, the generics maker inked 50 new business development and licensing deals, the CEO pointed out in the Thursday release. The company has "very limited" exposure to the U.S. market and its potential tariff reforms, Goldschmidt noted.