European private equity firm Cinven has bought Mercury Pharma from HgCapital for £465 million.

Pharmaceuticals company Mercury Pharma was initially acquired by HgCapital in December 2009 by way of a public-to-private transaction. On the back of the sale, 20 per cent of invested capital has now been realised by the HgCapital 2009 vintage fund HgCapital 6.

The company has a portfolio of products including those for anaesthesia, anti-psychotic care, arthritis and cardiovascular issues.

The Surrey-based business was founded in 1989 and listed on the London Stock Exchange between 1998 and its sale to HgCapital in 2009.

Philipp Schwalber, head of HgCapital’s healthcare team, comments, ‘Mercury Pharma is the first exit for HgCapital 6, the second realisation by HgCapital’s healthcare team in the last two years, and the most recent in a long line of public-to-private success stories for HgCapital.

‘We initially identified the speciality pharmaceutical niche in 2007 and tracked Mercury Pharma for a number of years before launching our public-to-private offer in 2009.’

John Beighton, CEO of Mercury Pharma, adds, ‘In the past two years, the Mercury business has been streamlined to refocus on its core speciality pharmaceutical products.

‘We have a well-diversified product range and are investing in creating a pipeline of further specialist medicines. Our 15 new products launched in 2011/12 are already starting to show earnings momentum and we have a strong product pipeline.’