PE firms' plan to take AMRI private on track

The Carlyle Group and GTCR LLC are poised to complete the takeover of Albany Molecular Research (AMRI) after the early termination of the mandatory waiting period that covers such deals in the US.

The New York, US-based contractor announced the development today, explaining that the deal is now subject to a shareholder vote due to take place before the end of the year.

AMRI said: “It is anticipated that the special meeting of AMRI’s stockholders to vote on the transaction will be held in the third quarter of 2017, and, if the transaction is approved, the merger would be expected to close shortly thereafter.”

The Carlyle Group and GTCR announced their intention to buy AMRI this month.

AMRI provides a range of contract manufacturing services, including the development and production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). In recent months the firm has signed supply deals with Shire plc and – last month – the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Last July, AMRI bought Italian drug ingredient firm Euticals in a €315m ($350m) deal that included five manufacturing facilities.

A year earlier it paid $174m for Spain’s Gadea Pharmaceutical Group to a production capacity for steroid precursors.