Danish investment group Novo Holdings will acquire Catalent for $16.5 billion in cash. Catalent’s Bloomington facility will be sold directly to pharma giant Novo Nordisk, along with two other facilities in Europe that also specialize in fill-finish operations.
Reuters reported that Novo Holdings CEO Kasim Kutay said his company is expanding its fill-finish capacity to meet demand for its popular weight loss drug Wegovy.
Catalent said the deal is expected to close around the end of the year.
Read more: Inflation Reduction Act doesn't do enough for many who rely on insulin
When the acquisition goes through, Catalent will become a private company and be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
Catalent CEO Alessandro Maselli said in a statement he “looks forward to benefiting from Novo Holdings’ significant resources to accelerate investment in our business.”
Bloomington’s Catalent facility grew quickly during the pandemic when it began distributing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and was offered significant tax incentives from the city. However, the company began laying off employees soon after and now looks unlikely to receive those benefits.
Read more: Catalent says financial woes due to inefficiencies at facilities, including Bloomington
A representative from Novo Nordisk declined Indiana Public Media's interview request but provided a comment about the future of the Bloomington facility and its workers:
"After the deal is closed, all employees at the three sites (Bloomington, Anagni, Italy, and Brussels, Belgium) – more than 3,000 highly skilled employees – will transfer to Novo Nordisk as they have valuable capabilities and insights into fill/finish manufacturing and will play a key role in serving even more patients with injectable products."
Novo Nordisk, along with Sanofi and Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, control over 90 percent of the world insulin market.
This story has been updated. A previous version of this story said Novo Nordisk acquired Catalent; however, Catalent was acquired by its parent company Novo Holdings.
