Private equity consortia submit new €3.7bn bids for Stada

Two private equity consortia have submitted fresh €3.7bn takeover offers to acquire German drug maker Stada, setting the stage for a crucial supervisory board meeting at the generic maker of Viagra on Wednesday.

A consortium that consists of Advent International and Permira and one comprised of Bain Capital and Cinven each made formal €58 a share offers for the company this week, according to people close to the matter.

Both bids include a plan to cover Stada’s dividend payments as well as a commitment to create an investment agreement that lays out specific promises to the company’s workforce and growth strategy.

The agreement is intended to help the private equity bidders try to address concerns shared by some members of Stada’s supervisory board.

One person involved in the process said that the bids also include statements that said the competing consortia would consider raising their offers if they could conduct final due diligence.

Stada’s supervisory board, which recently brought on Evercore Partners to advise it, is set to meet on Wednesday to review the proposals.

The board could decide to proceed to the final round of the auction in that meeting. Stada declined to comment.

The intense battle among private equity players to secure Stada highlights the increasingly competitive landscape for buyout firms to secure attractive assets in a world that has an ever smaller crop of palatable targets.

The auction process kicked off last month after Cinven submitted a non-binding bid and was then followed up by offers from Bain and Advent. In order to strengthen their offers, Bain and Cinven teamed up, while Advent joined forces with Permira.

A deal would be one of the larger public to private transactions by buyout firms, which have struggled to compete with strategic bidders in public auctions.

Spokespeople for the private equity firms could not immediately be reached.