Cinven, a European private equity firm, reached agreement to acquire Mercury Pharma, an international specialty pharmaceutical company, from owner HgCapital.

"We identified niche and branded pharmaceuticals as an attractive segment and, within that, Mercury as a strongly performing business,” said Supraj Rajagopalan, a partner at Cinven. “In addition to its excellent existing product portfolio and pipeline—both of which should drive strong organic growth—it is a fantastic platform for further consolidation both in the UK and internationally. Our in-depth knowledge of this sector, given our long-term focus on healthcare, has enabled us to identify a number of compelling acquisition opportunities which we hope to execute in the early stages of our investment."

Headquartered in Croydon, U.K., Mercury has operational bases in the U.K., Ireland and India. The company, which has generated strong revenue growth in recent years, markets niche and branded pharmaceuticals and has a broad portfolio of well-established products including treatments for thyroid disorders, pain, arthritis, pulmonary arterial hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, as well as a number of anaesthesia products.

"In the past two years, the Mercury business has been streamlined to refocus on its core specialty pharmaceutical products,” said John Beighton, CEO of Mercury Pharma. “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. Despite the current economic environment, our products and company are extremely well positioned."

Rajagopalan of Cinven added, "Our investment in Mercury demonstrates our focus on acquiring European-based companies with significant international growth prospects, as well as our ability to originate investments through our strong sector focus."