H.I.G. Capital Acquires Morningside Healthcare and Morningside Pharmaceuticals

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#BusinessMarkets--H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with over $50 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company Aspire Pharma has acquired Morningside Healthcare and Morningside Pharmaceuticals (together “Morningside” or the “Company”), a leading UK provider of niche generic and branded specialty pharmaceuticals. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Morningside, established in 1991 in the UK, is focused on developing and licensing niche generic pharmaceutical products. The business markets over 160 SKUs across more than 80 product families and multiple therapeutical areas, including Endocrine, Psychiatry, CNS, Infectious and Gastro. H.I.G. is combining Morningside with Aspire Pharma to build on their combined track record of organic growth, product development, and support new initiatives, such as M&A and international expansion.

Richard Condon (CEO, Aspire) remarked, “We are excited to welcome the Morningside team to the Aspire family. This is a transformative opportunity for both companies to expand and enhance our market position as a result of both companies highly complementary product portfolios. The combination will create one of the largest and fastest growing UK pharma companies and see further accelerated growth potential in our current and future product portfolio, in the UK and internationally. Our commitment remains with our team, patients, and our partners in the NHS and beyond, to ensure a smooth integration of businesses.”

Rohin Jain, Managing Director of H.I.G. European Middle Market and Head of Healthcare in Europe, added, “A combined Aspire and Morningside bring greater scale, breadth and diversity across products, geographies, and sales channels. Together, they are uniquely positioned to build on their strong relationships with relevant stakeholders to continue developing and supplying branded medicines and generics specifically designed and differentiated to offer patient and physician benefits. We look forward to supporting Aspire and Morningside in expanding their reach for the benefit of local health systems and patients.”

Jefferies International Limited acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis International LLP acted as legal counsel to H.I.G.

Citigroup Global Markets Limited acted as financial advisor and Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP acted as legal counsel to the shareholders of Morningside.

About Aspire Pharma

Aspire licenses and develops products that offer innovative formulations, value for money for payors and reliable supply agreements. Aspire is present in the generics, speciality generics, branded medicines and medical device sectors. For more information, go to www.aspirepharma.co.uk.

About Morningside

Morningside is a provider of licensed prescription medicines to the NHS and retail pharmacy sector, as well as international export markets. For more information, go to www.morningsidepharm.com.

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $50 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with European offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and U.S. and Latin American offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:

1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
4. H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm's current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

Rohin Jain
Managing Director
rjain@higcapital.com

John Harper
Managing Director
jharper@higcapital.com

H.I.G. Capital
10 Grosvenor Street
London W1K 4QB
United Kingdom
P +44 (0) 207 318 5700
F +44 (0) 207 318 5749
www.higcapital.com