Charles Russell Speechlys advise the shareholders of Veriton Pharma on its sale to SERB

Charles Russell Speechlys have advised the shareholders of Veriton Pharma (“Veriton”) on its sale to SERB Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a European specialty pharma business backed by Charterhouse Capital Partners.  

Headquartered in Weybridge, UK, with offices in the Middle East and Australia, Veriton was founded in 1997 to develop medicines for a targeted range of rare diseases. Today, Veriton focuses on the development of licensed medicines for neurological conditions and rare metabolic disorders, and unlicensed medicines for rare diseases which cannot be treated with existing licensed medicines. The company has a portfolio of more than 60 specialised formulations and supplies its products to over 25 countries worldwide.

The founder and chairman of Veriton, Graham March, and the executive team have become shareholders of the combined group.

Speaking of the deal, Graham March said: “The Charles Russell Speechlys team, led by Mark Howard, provided invaluable support to my family and fellow shareholders. I was hugely impressed with their insightful pre-sale planning and preparatory work (for us personally and for the company), and astute handling of the transaction process. As a firm, they have the perfect mix of skills and experience to support entrepreneurs, family owned businesses and management teams on their personal and commercial affairs.” 

Mark Howard, Corporate Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, commented: “We were delighted to support Graham, his family and the management team on this seminal transaction.  As a firm, we have a niche capability to field tier one ranked teams across our Corporate and Private Wealth practices to provide a truly full service offering to family owned businesses and management teams, in this case working closely with colleagues in our Paris and Luxembourg offices too to deliver a complete one-stop service.” 

The core team at Charles Russell Speechlys was led by Mark Howard, and also comprised Tom Smitham, Ashwin Pillay and Tessa Newman (all Corporate), Private Client Partner, Robert Blower, and Associate, Hannah Connors, and Corporate Tax Partner, Robert Birchall, and Associate, Elliot Michaelson and Commercial Partner Megan Paul and Senior Associate Caroline Young. Corporate Partner Jean-Baptiste Beauvoir-Planson and Associate Anastasiya Nikitina advised from the Lux office and Corporate Partner Renaud Ferry and Guillaume Ferrand from the Paris office. 

BDO were the sell-side corporate finance advisers and also provided financial, tax and commercial due diligence services on the deal.