Lone Star, Altaris, One Rock Said Among Bidders for Lonza Assets

(Bloomberg) — Lone Star Funds, Altaris LLC and One Rock Capital Partners are among shortlisted bidders for Lonza Group AG’s capsules and health ingredients business, according to people familiar with the matter.

The US private equity firms have entered into a second round of bidding for the assets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Other bidders could still emerge, the people said, adding that deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made.

Lonza is making good progress with the necessary internal carve-out measures to prepare the exit from the capsules and health ingredients business, its representative said in a response to Bloomberg News, declining to comment further. A representative for Lone Star declined to comment, while Altaris and One Rock didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Bank of America Corp. and Centerview Partners have been working with Lonza on the potential sale of the capsules and health ingredients business, people familiar with the matter have said, as part of the company’s efforts to streamline its corporate structure. The unit could be worth at least €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) in a deal, one of the people said in February.

Lonza is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of monoclonal antibodies, the technology behind a new class of Alzheimer’s drugs such as Eli Lilly & Co.’s donanemab. Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Wienand aims to make Lonza a pure-play contract development company and has said he doesn’t believe Lonza to be the right owner of the capsules unit. Lonza bought the capsule business, dubbed CHI, in 2017 from buyout fund KKR & Co. for $5.5 billion in a push to focus more on health care.

Shares of Lonza are almost unchanged this year, giving the company a market value of roughly $46 billion.

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