Novo acquires Xellia Pharma for $700m

Novo A/S has announced its acquisition of Xellia Pharmaceuticals for US $700 million.

Novo A/S is the holding company of the Novo Group, which is the major shareholder in Danish pharma company Novo Nordisk. Novo A/S is fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Based in Norway, Xellia develops and manufactures anti-infective products for multi-drug resistant infections. With Novo as its new long-term owner, the company plans to relocate Xellia's headquarters to Denmark.

The acquisition aims to enhance Xellia's focus on R&D and expand its global manufacturing footprint to further scale its finished-dosage-form business.

"Together with Novo we can strengthen the positive development that Xellia has achieved over the past few years, and at the same time the investment by Novo will help accelerate our developments further."

Xellia CEO, Carl-Åke Carlsson.

"The products that Xellia supplies are critical life-saving treatments for many patients around the globe, and are manufactured by use of fermentation technologies, which is a manufacturing approach similar to that of Novo Nordisk, Novozymes and Chr. Hansen."

Novo CEO, Henrik Gürtler.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.