Planned listing puts Canada's biggest generic drugmaker in rare TSX IPO class
Canada’s largest pharmaceutical company is preparing a potential $1bn share sale in Toronto, putting a major generic drugmaker and private equity asset in front of public‑market investors.
According to Bloomberg, Canadian generic drug manufacturer Apotex Inc. is considering an initial public offering that would raise about $750m to $1bn and rank as the largest new Canadian listing since Definity Financial Corp. raised about $1.6bn in 2021.
Bloomberg reported that Apotex is looking at the first half of the year, while The Globe and Mail said the deal would involve selling a minority stake, with its owner SK Capital Partners expected to keep control.
New York-based SK Capital Partners, a life-sciences focused private equity firm, acquired Apotex in 2023 in a transaction that Bloomberg Businessweek reported was valued between $3bn and $4bn, citing people with knowledge of the deal.
As per The Globe and Mail, SK Capital has approximately US$10bn invested across 20 businesses.
RBC Capital Markets, Jefferies Financial Group and TD Securities are advising on the potential IPO, according to the sources mentioned, all of which relied on people familiar with the matter.
Across those reports, sources said no final decisions have been made on the exact timing or size of the deal and the plans may still change.
Benefits and Pension Monitor also noted that the sources requested anonymity because they were discussing private information, while representatives for the banks, Apotex and SK Capital either declined to comment or did not respond.
The Globe and Mail described Apotex as Canada’s largest pharmaceutical company, employing 6,000 people, producing 25bn doses of medicine annually and selling into 70 countries.
Benefits and Pension Monitor both characterised Apotex as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of generic drugs.
According to The Globe and Mail, Apotex’s strategy centres on supplying affordable medicine for cost‑conscious customers and continuously adding new drugs to its portfolio.
Apotex has recently broadened its product base.
The Globe and Mail reported that over the past year, the company secured licences to produce medicines that treat throat and skin cancers, leukemia, vision problems and testosterone replacement.
The same report said Apotex moved into vitamins in February by purchasing Toronto-based CanPrev Natural Health Products, described as one of Canada’s largest supplement manufacturers, with 445 products distributed online and through 3,400 retail outlets.
As per Benefits and Pension Monitor, Apotex also acquired Montreal-based Searchlight Pharma Inc., a specialty health‑care company with products in women’s health, dermatology, allergy, pain management and hospital specialty markets.
Benefits and Pension Monitor noted that Barry Sherman founded Apotex in 1974 and built it into a prominent generic drug manufacturer.
The article added Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey Sherman, were found dead in their Toronto home in December 2017, in what police and authorities described as a double homicide, and that the case remains unsolved.
The Shermans had a combined net worth of about $3.6bn at the time of their deaths.
