Ropes & Gray Advises New Mountain Capital in the Purchase of ACETO Corporation’s Chemicals Business Assets

Ropes & Gray advised New Mountain Capital in the purchase of ACETO Corporation’s chemicals business assets. ACETO is an international company engaged in the development, marketing, sale and distribution of Human Health products, Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Performance Chemicals. The transaction was announced on April 15.

The asset purchase agreement was entered into following the conclusion of a court-supervised sale process conducted under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Under that process, an asset purchase agreement between ACETO and New Mountain Capital was executed, dated February 18, to sell the chemical business assets as the “stalking horse agreement”. After receiving a qualified offer from another bidder reflecting higher and/or otherwise better terms, a court-supervised sale process was held on April 12. Ultimately, New Mountain Capital was selected as the successful bidder. The transaction is subject to approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court at a hearing scheduled for April 16, and is expected to close in this calendar quarter, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by mergers & acquisitions and private equity partner John Sorkin, special situations partner Robb Tretter and business restructuring partner Matthew Roose.