Singapore-based private equity firm Affirma Capital and UAE’s investment company StonePine have announced the final closing of their $20 million investment to acquire a significant minority stake in Nerhadou, an Egyptian nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical firm specialized in manufacturing oral dispersible film (“ODF”).
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Nerhadou is the first joint investment by Affirma Capital and StonePine Capital Partners in Egypt and is part of a broader Egypt-focused joint investment strategy.
Affirma Capital and StonePine were supported by White & Case as legal advisors. ADIB Capital (the investment banking arm of ADIB Egypt) acted as the lead sell-side advisor on behalf of Nerhadou, supported by Al Tamimi & Company as legal advisors.
Taimoor Labib, Founding Partner and Head of MENA & Chairman of Africa at Affirma Capital, stated: “We continue to be excited to partner with Nerhadou and its outstanding management team while leveraging our global franchise to help them grow both organically and inorganically. In addition, we are very excited about our robust 2023 Egypt investment pipeline.”
Nerhadou has had a very strong performance over the past 12 months delivering double-digit growth and continuing to grow and cement its position as a leading player across key nutraceutical product subsegments and ODF technology in Egypt. The Company has an attractive product pipeline consisting of several innovative nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products, both in ODF and conventional dosage forms. The fresh capital injected into the Company further strengthens its balance sheet for the future and will allow it to accelerate the roll-out of key growth initiatives.
Dr. Mohsen Shalaby, Chairman of Nerhadou, said: “We are excited to partner with Affirma Capital and StonePine to accelerate Nerhadou’s clear growth trajectory and bring the Company to IPO standards. Affirma and StonePine have already helped us identify and execute a number of value enhancement initiatives and we look forward to leveraging their regional and global expertise to solidify our market leadership position.”
Dr. Mohamed Shalaby, CEO of Nerhadou, said: “We are pleased to have successfully secured all the regulatory approvals required and fulfilled the conditions for the closing of this transaction. We can now focus on executing our ambitious plan with our new partners, with an even stronger balance sheet.”
Youssef Haidar, Founder, and CEO of StonePine Capital Partners and Head of StonePine ACE Fund stated: “With fresh capital and a solid balance sheet, Nerhadou is very well positioned to weather any macro-economic uncertainty and focus on executing its growth plans. We have been working closely with the management team over the past year and will continue to do so to enable those plans.”
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