Transactions

Christophe Pothier, Partner at Paris based Carmin Finance, and Chairman of international corporate finance network ICFG, is delighted to announce the completion of a transaction which makes EHDH (European Healthcare Distribution Holding) the leading European player in transport and logistics dedicated to the pharmaceutical sector. The family owned EHDH group, controlled and managed by Stéphane Baudry, has acquired the European activities of American company Movianto, a subsidiary of the Owens & Minor group, listed on Wall Street on the NYSE.

The $133 million transaction was financed by a pool of banks, including both the Auvergne bank which has supported EHDH from the outset, as well as international banks. The new group will exceed one billion euros in sales in 2020, with 5,000 employees in 10 countries.

For two years, Carmin Finance and its international network ICFG, have been active at every stage: identifying the target, steering the due diligence work made complex by the multiplicity of countries involved, seeking financing and negotiating between European family Mittelstand and a New York listed services group. Beyond the execution of the transaction and its financing, Carmin Finance worked with Stéphane Baudry on the strategy of the new entity, its governance, and the integration plan.

The integration phase is already underway, with the definition of a dynamic strategy to serve a Pharmaceuticals sector that is undergoing accelerated change with the growth of Biotechnologies, a major reorganization of laboratories and the challenges that the Covid 19 crisis has brought to the entire supply chain for medicines and healthcare products.

The grouping of all the brands – Movianto, Eurotranspharma, CSP, Ciblex, Prima Transport and Pharma Pilot – under the single name Walden, and the overhaul of governance with an enlarged executive committee now made up of one-third of former EHDH employees, one-third of former Movianto employees and one-third of new personalities from outside the Group, will enable the new entity to present a unique CDSO (Contract Distribution & Supply Organization) offering perfectly, adapted to the expectations of the sector in Europe.

This is the fifth operation that Carmin Finance has carried out with Stéphane Baudry, head of the Auvergne logistics group, which he developed from the company CSP, created in 1951 by his grandfather.

Christophe Pothier, Partner at Carmin Finance, commented:

“It was a complex acquisition process given the multiplicity of jurisdictions and the differences in approach between a French family-owned firm and an American listed group. This is a global assignment where Carmin Finance’s corporate and financial experience enables us to approach the negotiation of a transaction, its strategic deployment and the opportunities that the nature of the assets acquired may present for the financing of the project in an integrated manner”

Stéphane Baudry, head of the Auvergne Logistics Group, commented:

“With this 5th long-term operation, the EHDH Group becomes totally European and this new success reinforces our philosophy of going beyond one-off operations by forging long-term relationships with committed and involved partners in the pharmaceutical, logistics and financial worlds”