Novo Holdings Aims to Double Catalent’s Size in Five Years
Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, hopes to double the size of its recently acquired contract drugmaker Catalent over the next five years, according to a senior partner at the investment firm. The firm closed a $16.5 billion deal to buy Catalent last month and sold three of its plants to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion to help the Danish drugmaker ramp up supplies of its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy.
Jonathan Levy, the Novo Holdings partner who led the deal, said the firm did not want to overcommit to a revenue target before setting out a corporate strategy with Catalent’s management. However, he expressed optimism about the company’s potential, saying that doubling its size over five years is a “nice barometer to work on” and that it could achieve something more significant from an enterprise value perspective.
Catalent had sales of $4.38 billion in 2024 and will hold its next board meeting in February. Levy expects more drugmakers to look for western service providers in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s “America first” focus. Catalent and Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Patheon unit, both of which are based in the U.S., could be beneficiaries of such moves.
Trump has also expressed a preference for U.S. manufacturing, and Levy is closely watching efforts to pass a bill that would restrict U.S. business with certain Chinese biotechnology companies, including contract drug manufacturer WuXi AppTec. Levy believes that companies like WuXi will struggle as a result of the bill, while companies like Catalent will benefit.
Novo Holdings also has a venture vehicle with more than 90 biopharmaceutical assets that will be a “tremendous pipeline” for Catalent, according to Levy.
