Source: Les Echos - Guillaume Roussange - 29 June 2021

Owned for the past five years by Chinese fund JIC, the pharmaceutical glassmaker is set to be acquired shortly by French fund PAI. External growth operations are planned.

The decision has yet to be submitted to the employee consultative bodies. But in all likelihood, SGD Pharma, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of glass packaging for the pharmaceutical industry, will soon be sailing under the French flag once again. On 16 June, investment fund PAI Partners (formerly Paribas Affaires Industrielles) announced its intention to acquire all of the group’s assets, owned since 2016 by China Jianyin Investment (JIC), a Chinese state investment fund.

At the time, the arrival of the Chinese investor had raised some concerns among employees. In fact, its governance resulted in a period of consolidation for the company, whose revenue grew by 17% over the period and its EBITDA by around 40%.

Higher prices

This is the result of in-depth work to develop the group’s innovation and meet demand for defect-free “ready-to-use” products – a major trend in the sector. “Customers can no longer afford to work with non-specialist suppliers that do not invest in quality. Our strategy enables us to achieve 5% growth a year, two points above the market average,” says Christophe Nicoli, CEO of SGD Pharma.

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Over the past five years, the manufacturer has also strengthened its international positions, thanks to the rise of specialities such as biotechnologies, plasma-derived medicinal products and vaccines, which the group expects to drive 30% growth in India over the next eighteen months.

External growth

However, no major deal was carried out under JIC’s ownership. PAI Partners could well set a new course for the company by enabling external growth operations. According to Christophe Nicoli, “targeted acquisition opportunities would boost the group’s growth and leadership”. SGD Pharma is targeting revenue of €450 million by 2025, mainly through organic growth. The group employs 3,200 people worldwide, around a third of them at its plants in the Somme and Val-de-Marne.