JLL says no sale

Private equity firm JLL Partners has announced it is not in talks with Swiss-based Lonza to tell its majority stake in Canadian drugmaker Patheon.

Lonza recently launched a US$460m bid for Patheon which drove the stock up nearly 30%, giving the Canadian company an enterprise value of some US$700m.

However, the offer was rejected by JLL, which owns 57% of the drugmaker on the grounds that it was not the right time to sell. A special committee formed to review the offer has opposed the JLL offer as too low.

Listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, Lonza is a supplier to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. In 2008, Lonza had sales of CHF 2.937bn.