An AGIC Capital-led consortium has agreed to acquire Ritedose from Olympus Partners, another private equity firm.
Ritedose is a blow-fill-seal maker, a process in which plastic containers are blow-molded, filled with liquid and sealed in one continuous operation under aseptic conditions.
Founded in 1995 in South Carolina, Ritedose also develops, manufactures and sells its own generic portfolio of respiratory pharmaceutical products.
“AGIC is fully committed to providing Ritedose with the resources and regional expertise to support the expansion of the customer base and identify business opportunities in China, and the rest of Asia," Henry Cai, chairman of AGIC, said in a statement on Monday.
Blow-fill-sealing has gained rapid world wide acceptance in the injectable drug marketplace, replacing glass vial processing in many applications and is considered a superior method for aseptic filling of pharmaceuticals by various regulatory bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration.
A report by Market and Markets found that the pharmaceutical packaging market was valued at $65.55 billion in 2015 and is projected to reach $94.93 billion by 2021, at a compound average growth rate of 6.4% from 2016 to 20211.
“With the investment and management support from AGIC’s healthcare team, Ritedose will be able to navigate through the regulatory approvals it needs to accelerate its expansion in the US and move into new markets in Europe and Asia, in particular China and Japan where demand for BFS in respiratory medicine is increasing,” said Sam Sun, managing director and head of Greater China for AGIC.
Before starting his own business venture, Cai spent more than 20 years in the investment banking business in Asia, mostly helping companies to list their shares in Hong Kong, including the 1993 debuts of Shanghai Petrochemical and Tsingtao Beer.
He was most recently Deutsche Bank’s executive chairman of corporate finance for Asia-Pacific and left the bank in February 2015. Prior to joining Deutsche in 2010 he was chairman of Asia investment banking and head of China investment banking at UBS.
