SPE Capital Partners and Proparco acquire healthcare player
SPE Capital Partners has announced the acquisition of Saham Pharma, an antibiotics manufacturer and hospital provider in Morocco, alongside Proparco as a minority investor. The acquisition constitutes the fourth transaction executed through SPE AIF I, a $200 million Africa-focused private equity fund closed in 2019. It is the second direct equity investment of Proparco within the healthcare sector of Morocco, following the investment in ODM group in 2018 (hospitals and diagnosis clinics).
Saham Pharma, founded in 2011 after Saham Group’s acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s beta-lactams production site in Morocco and led by Younous Elalamy, is among the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies in Morocco.
Saham Pharma has developed strong expertise in manufacturing antibiotics products. In recent years, the company also significantly increased its market share in the growing Moroccan hospital sector and began exporting its products to other African countries.
Commenting on the acquisition, Younous Elalamy said, “We have had strong growth over the past years and we are happy to have private equity investors of the quality of SPE Capital and Proparco partner with us to support our continued development over the coming years. We have ambitious plans for Saham Pharma and look forward to combining our strengths to create value for the company and its shareholders.”
Nabil Triki, managing partner and CEO at SPE Capital, commented: “This will be our second investment in Morocco through the fund SPE AIF I and the second in the pharmaceuticals industry, following our investment last year in Future Pharmaceuticals Industry in Egypt. We believe the pharmaceutical sector has strong fundamentals of growth and resilience. Within the sector, players with solid management, manufacturing excellence and strong marketing know-how, like Saham Pharma, can significantly outperform the market. Today, we are happy and excited to join forces with Dr. Younous Elalamy and his team to take Saham Pharma to the next level”.
Samuel Touboul, senior investment officer at Proparco, added: “We are very proud to support, under the leadership of SPE Capital, Saham Pharma and more generally the development of the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors in Morocco, which we believe are key to the development of the country. Saham Pharma is a historical player of the pharmaceutical sector, with high impact on the Moroccan population, and we have full confidence in its talented management and employees to further provide high quality medicine and treatments in Morocco and abroad.”
SPE Capital and Proparco were advised by Asafo & Co (legal lead advisor), Galenisys (commercial advisors), PricewaterhouseCoopers (financial advisors), Wildgen (legal advisor) and DLA Piper (legal advisor).
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