Advent to acquire Sanofi's European generics unit for €1.9B

VC firm Advent International Corp. (Boston, Mass.) said it will acquire from Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY) the pharma's European generics business, Zentiva Group A/S, for €1.9 billion ($2.3 billion).

Last year, Sanofi indicated it was looking to divest Zentiva as part of its “strategic roadmap 2020" aimed at simplifying its organization.

The deal would be Advent's second acquisition of a generics company, according to BioCentury's BCIQ database.

Last year, Advent acquired for $124 million Mexican generics company Grupo Farmaceutico Somar (Mexico City, Mexico) from Endo International plc (NASDAQ:ENDP;TSX:ENL). Endo had acquired the company in 2014 for $268.8 million. The deal is expected to close by year end.