Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Senderra, a privately held specialty pharmacy, is prepping to come to market again, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: This would be a jolt to the market after the deal doldrums of the last six months.
What's happening: Stifel was mandated to advise Senderra, which is engaging in informal firesides at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference next week, the sources say.
- Barring a preemptive bid, Senderra will launch a private equity-focused auction process at the end of Q1 or start of Q2, one source says.
- Senderra will be marketed on pro-forma 2023 EBITDA of $50 million to $60 million, with $2 billion in top line revenue, the source says.
How it works: Founded in 2010, Dallas-based Senderra is a national specialty pharmacy, providing specialty medications, clinical advice and support.
- The company offers medications for myriad conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and hemophilia.
Flashback: This is the second time Senderra is coming to market, after getting to the 1-yard line with payor Anthem (now dba Elevance Health) in 2020, some of the sources say.
- Executive turnover at Elevance's pharmacy benefit manager Ingenio was one reason talks halted, one source says.
- Elevance went on to buy specialty pharmacy company BioPlus in November 2022.
Zoom in: Senderra could see a boon from an expected flood of multiple Humira biosimilars this year, one source notes.
- AbbVie's blockbuster drug Humira is indicated for rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, among other conditions.
Be smart: Any sponsor buyout of Senderra will need some leverage — and that's not cheap to come by currently.
- We saw stressed financing markets put plenty of processes on pause last year, as well as over discord in valuation expectations.
State of play: Elevance-owned Bioplus is one of several notable specialty pharmacy players. Others include:
- Orsini Specialty Pharmacy, focused on rare diseases, which sold a stake to Carlyle in February 2022.
- Panthex, acquired by Centene in 2020 for an undisclosed price before it was sold two years later to the Vistria Group, General Atlantic and Nautic Partners for around $1.4 billion.
- American Oncology Network, which announced a SPAC merger with Digital Transformation Opportunities Corp in deal valuing it at about $500 million.
- Nautic Partners-backed CarePathRx, which in 2020 snagged $275 million of debt financing from Varagon Capital Partners, LBC Credit Partners, HPS Investment Partners and Capital One Financial, per PitchBook.
Senderra and Stifel did not respond to requests for comment.
