AmerisourceBergen to sell drug packaging business in $308M transaction

Drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen said Tuesday that it reached a deal to sell its AndersonBrecon contract packaging subsidiary for $308 million to a group created to make the purchase and led by Frazier Healthcare.

AmerisourceBergen, whose headquarters is in Chesterbrook, had said in November that it planned to divest this business.

"This transaction will help ensure that AndersonBrecon will continue to thrive in the years ahead, and allows AmerisourceBergen to focus on its distribution, specialty and manufacturer services businesses," Steven H. Collis, AmerisourceBergen chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Frazier Healthcare, a private equity firm with offices in Seattle and Menlo Park, Calif., last year bought the Catalent Pharma Solutions packaging plant on Red Lion Road in Northeast Philadelphia and renamed it Packaging Coordinators Inc. AndersonBrecon, which has plants in Rockford, Ill., and the United Kingdom, will become part of PCI.

"We are pleased to merge two stellar players within the pharmaceutical and biotech packaging business and believe that the combined company will deliver industry-leading quality and service to our customers and a world-class environment for our employees," Nathan Every, Frazier Healthcare general partner, said in the statement. Every is a graduate of Lower Merion High School and the University of Pennsylvania.

Joining Frazier Healthcare in the purchase were affiliates of Greenspring Associates, QIC Global Private Equity, and Thomas McNerney & Partners.

On March 19, AmerisourceBergen announced a 10-year deal with Walgreens and Alliance Boots to distribute pharmaceuticals to those companies. The deal will be worth billions in revenue and could put AmerisourceBergen into the second spot among the three companies that control more than 90 percent of the wholesale pharmaceutical market in America. McKesson is the revenue leader, but AmerisourceBergen could move ahead of Cardinal Health, which used to have the Walgreens contract. Last week, AmerisourceBergen said it is selling a money-losing Canadian distribution subsidiary.

Investors have liked the moves, as AmerisourceBergen hit a 52-week high during trading Tuesday and closed at $52.41, up 77 cents.