All regulatory closing conditions related to Novo Holdings’ $16.5 billion acquisition of U.S. contract drug maker Catalent (NYSE: CTLT) had been fulfilled, the companies said on Saturday, adding that the transaction is expected to be completed in the coming days.
In February, Novo Holdings agreed to buy Catalent to boost the output of the popular weight-loss drug Wegovy. According to the terms of the deal, Novo Holdings would sell three of Catalent’s factories, where injection pens are filled in sterile conditions, in Italy, Belgium, and the United States, to Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) for $11 billion.
Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which makes the blockbuster GLP-1 injectable weight-loss drug Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk said that the acquisition is expected to have a mid single-digit negative impact on the company’s operating profit growth for 2025, and that the company is not expecting to initiate a share buyback program in 2025.
The deal had received EU antitrust approval earlier in December, and the European Commission said in a statement, “The proposed merger would not raise competition concerns on any of the markets examined in the EEA (European Economic Area) or on any substantial part of it”.
In October, several U.S. consumer groups and two large labor unions had urged the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block the deal. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren had also called on the FTC to scrutinize the $16.5 billion deal.
In May, the FTC sought more information on Novo’s acquisition of Catalent (NYSE: CTLT). However, there has been no update from the FTC since then.
