Putney Inc., a 10-year-old maker of generic pet medicines in Portland with revenues of nearly $50 million, has been acquired by a company in Britain.
Putney announced its sale to Dechra Holdings, a subsidiary of Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC, in a news release Tuesday morning.
Dechra Pharmaceuticals develops, manufactures and sells specialty veterinary medicines and related products. It reported revenues of $300 million in 2015.
The purchase price was reported to be $200 million.
Susan Hanley, a spokeswoman for Putney, said Dechra hasn’t said what it plans to do with Putney’s headquarters in Monument Square or the company workforce of about 60 people. The company researches, develops and markets pet medicines, but outsources their manufacture.
“We do know they’re excited and see the value in the Portland office,” said Hanley.
A release from Dechra said the company will be able to leverage its sales and marketing teams and Putney’s distribution channels, as well as share best practice in the areas of product development and regulation.
“In addition, Dechra believes there are opportunities for synergies while maintaining the necessary resources in Portland,” the release stated. “In the future it may also be possible to manufacture in-house products in the pipeline, which are not already set up with third parties.
Dechra has a U.S. office in Kansas that has a workforce about the same size as Putney’s, Hanley said.
Jean Hoffman, founder and CEO of Putney, said the merger takes advantage of both companies’ complementary scientific knowledge, regulatory expertise, product development and commercialization skills.
“I am incredibly proud of the value that the Putney team has built,” said Hoffman in the release. “The sale underscores the success of Putney’s commercialized products, product portfolio and our robust development pipeline, which we have built from the ground up since I founded the company in 2006.”
Ian Page, CEO of Dechra Pharmaceuticals, said the acquisition will strengthen Dechra’s position in the U.S with FDA-approved veterinary products. The company was particularly impressed that Putney has achieved over 40 percent of all U.S. pet generic medicine approvals from the FDA since 2012.
A longtime pet lover, Hoffman founded the company to provide affordable, effective generic equivalents of common pet medicines. The company has brought more than 10 generic pet medicines to market since its founding.
In 2014, Hoffman was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the Life Sciences category. She is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of New England School of Pharmacy. She also serves as an adviser in the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s Top Gun program.
Hoffman will be leaving the company after the sale closes, Hanley said. That’s expected to take place next month, she said, assuming approval by regulatory agencies.
A serial entrepreneur, Hoffman founded her first company, Newport Strategies, in 1990. The company specialized in collecting and analyzing data for the pharmaceutical industry using algorithms that identified research and market trends. Following the sale of that company to Thomson Reuters in 2004, she founded Q Street Advisors, a consultancy serving the global generic drugs industry.
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