05. July 2019

ARQIS has advised the French veterinary pharmaceuticals group Ceva Santé Animale SA (“Ceva”) on the acquisition of the veterinary biopharmaceutical and R&D activities of IDT Biologika GmbH (“IDT”), a pharmaceutical company based in Dessau-Roßlau. Both parties have agreed not to disclose details on the purchase price.

The transaction enables Ceva to expand its veterinary and animal public health portfolio, while IDT will focus on the production of human medical biotechnological vaccines and active ingredients for the national and international market. Ceva is also planning substantial investments in the new Global Innovation Centre for Swine Vaccines at the existing IDT sites in Dessau and Riems. The center will strengthen Ceva’s biological research and development capabilities by bringing together two highly qualified R&D teams and their innovative product pipelines with high growth potential.

Ceva is a multinational veterinary pharmaceutical group based in Libourne, France, founded in 1999. The company specialises in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceutical products and vaccines for farm animals (ruminants, pigs and poultry) and pets. Ceva is present in 110 countries and employs 5,700 people worldwide.

ARQIS has recurrently been acting for Ceva. The team around Dr. Jörn-Christian Schulze came originally in contact with Ceva due to its health care expertise. “This transaction – spreading across eight nations – was quite challenging, both from a structural as well as from a project handling perspective”, says Jörn-Chr. Schulze: „We are very grateful to have been allowed to support Ceva and their strong in-house team led by Valérie Mazeaud (Board Member Legal) in this landmark deal“.

Advisors to Ceva Santé Animale SA:

ARQIS Rechtsanwälte (Dusseldorf/Munich): Dr. Jörn-Christian Schulze (lead), Dr. Thomas Görgemanns (lead Due Diligence/Int. Project Management); Christian Wegener (Tax Law), Dr. Ulrich Lienhard (Real Estate), Dr. Eva Trost, Dr. Tobias Brors (both Labour Law), Johannes Landry (Commercial), Marcus Nothhelfer, Dr. Philipp Maier (beide IP/Compliance); Associates: Jennifer Huschauer (Real Estate), Thi-Kieu-Chinh Nguyen (Labour Law), Sina Janke (IP/Compliance), Nima Hanifi-Atashgah, Malte Griepenburg, Carolin Schlütter-Lückel (all Corporate/M&A); Berenike Gottwald, Dr. Liliia Sagun (both Legal Support Specialist)

RCAA (Frankfurt am Main): Evelyn Niitväli (Merger Control)

 Gateley plc ((Leeds, UK): David Armitage, Rebecca Bennett (both Corporate)