October 1, 2010, Teaneck, NJ DFW Capital Partners announced today that it has completed the sale of its portfolio company, ALVP Holdings, which includes operating subsidiaries Alaven Pharmaceuticals and Alaven Consumer Healthcare, to Swedish specialty pharmaceutical company Meda AB. Meda acquired Alaven for an aggregate cash purchase price of $350 million, resulting in a realized 73% IRR and a blended 6.4x ROI on DFW’s combined equity and subordinated debt investments. On the equity portion of its investment, DFW realized an 8.1x ROI, making it one of the firm’s most successful deals in recent years.
DFW originally invested in Atlanta-based Alaven in 2006, to support the company’s acquisition of certain pharmaceutical product lines from Solvay Pharmaceuticals. Revenues and EBITDA at the time of the Solvay transactions were $10.5 million and $5.5 million, respectively. In the years following DFW’s initial investment, Alaven completed two more significant growth transactions, including the acquisition and license of certain gastroenterology assets from UCB Pharma and the purchase of the consumer digestive health assets of DrNatura. In addition to integrating these acquired and licensed products, Alaven led the development of several line extensions to acquired products, as well as the development and launch of a successful womens’ prenatal health line of products. During this period, the company developed a complete commercial and regulatory infrastructure, including a 100-person sales force. At the time of Meda’s acquisition of Alaven, the company generated net revenues and EBITDA of $110 million and $41 million in EBITDA, respectively, making it one of the largest and fastest growing specialty pharmaceutical platforms in the US market.
Bala Venkataraman, Alaven’s founder & CEO, commented “We are delighted to have accomplished this exit for all of our stakeholders. Over the past five years we have enjoyed a close working relationship with DFW, as we have built Alaven. They have always provided key insights and leadership at each stage of our development, and have become more of an extension of our executive team than just a capital partner.”
Joining DFW in the Alaven deal were co-investor Greyrock Capital Group, and lenders GE Capital and Fifth Third Bancorp.
About DFW Capital Partners
DFW Capital Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on lower middle-market companies. The firm concentrates on service companies, with an emphasis on healthcare and outsourced business and industrial support services. DFW is backed by both institutional and high-net worth individual investors, and has established a 20+ year track record of success in both building leading companies, and recognizing top-quartile returns for its investors. DFW is headquartered in Teaneck, NJ, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. For more information contact Keith Pennell, General Partner, at (201) 836-6000.