GBL joins CVC in €10.7bn takeover bid for Recordati

An unsolicited bid by private equity group CVC to take control of Italian pharma company Recordati looks likely to come off, after additional investment groups joined the offer.

In March, CVC said it was interested in buying Recordati for €52-per-share, valuing the company at €10.9 billion (around $12 billion), in a deal that would see it delisted from the Euronext Milan exchange.

The private equity firm, which already owns 46.8% of Recordati, said at the time that one of the conditions of the offer was identifying additional investors to support the bid. Today, it was announced that Belgian investment group GBL has joined the effort, with the two investors fronting a consortium of funds that have formalised a €51.29-per-share, €10.7 billion bid (PDF) for the company.

Recordati has been growing well in recent years, with 2025 revenues rising 8.3% to €2.62 billion on the back of products like Cushing's syndrome therapy Isturisa (osilodrostat), but has said it wants to expand further and needs funds for bolt-on licensing and/or M&A deals. That would be easier as a privately-held group due to greater confidentiality, faster decision-making, and less public shareholder pressure.

CVC's non-binding offer came shortly after Recordati doubled its peak sales forecast for Isturisa from around €600 million to €1.2 billion. Sales of the cortisol synthesis inhibitor grew 22.5% to €394 million last year.

In a statement, Recordati said the new binding offer is "supported by a committed, flexible and stable shareholder base, where CVC and GBL will partner as co-control investors with a clear commitment to support the company's development over the long term."

Other investors brought into the deal include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) subsidiary Luxinva, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), and Recordati's billionaire chairman, Andrea Recordati.

Recordati said that it is now entering a "new phase of development," including an expansion into the rare disease category, but is facing a more competitive environment for licensing and acquiring new assets that is driving up prices.

The consequence of that is that programmes are now often at earlier stages of development, raising the risk of failure, and private ownership is "better suited to support this phase, providing strategic flexibility, stable capital base and aligned long-term shareholder support."

The offer is expected to close before the end of the year, according to Recordati. Analysts at Intermonte, reported by the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, said they were sceptical that the delisting would go ahead as the deal "does not seem interesting for Recordati's investors" at the current offer price.