Private Equity Firm Acquires Pfanstiehl

Continuing a trend of private equity investment in U.S. pharmaceutical chemical companies, Med Opportunity Partners has acquired Ferro Pfanstiehl Laboratories, a manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients. Greenwich, Conn.-based MedOp will pay Ferro $17 million up front and up to $8 million more in incentive payments over two years. Pfanstiehl is positioned to benefit from a market shift toward excipients manufactured to current Good Manufacturing Practice standards, according to James A. Breckenridge, a founding member of Med­Op and new chairman of Pfanstiehl. The deal is the latest in a scheme by Ferro to divest itself of noncore businesses.