Gerresheimer Completes Centor Sale as It Moves to Reduce Debt

Gerresheimer has completed the sale of its U.S. subsidiary Centor to an affiliate of funds advised by Apax Partners, giving the German pharmaceutical-packaging group the first cash proceeds from a two-part divestiture plan that it says will be used to reduce debt.

The closing came about two months after Gerresheimer signed agreements covering both Centor and its global Primary Packaging Plastics business. The second sale has not yet closed and remains targeted for the first half of 2027.

The company said the total purchase price for the two businesses is based on a combined enterprise value of about €1.5 billion, with Centor accounting for about half of that amount. Further financial terms were not disclosed. Gerresheimer’s corporate news update lists the Centor closing on Oct. 1, following the fulfillment of customary closing conditions.

Centor closing delivers the first proceeds from the Apax sales

Centor specializes in packaging systems used to dispense prescription drugs in the United States. Gerresheimer began a formal sale process for the business in February as part of an effort to improve its capital and financing structure, and in July expanded the divestiture to include its global Primary Packaging Plastics operations.

The two businesses together generated about €570 million of revenue in 2025 and employ roughly 2,400 people across 16 production sites in nine countries. Centor accounts for one U.S. site, while the Primary Packaging Plastics business includes 15 production sites. Both sales were agreed with an affiliate of funds advised by Apax Partners LLP, but they were structured to close independently.

That separation matters for the timing of Gerresheimer’s cash inflows. Centor has now closed, so Gerresheimer can begin applying the proceeds to debt. The larger portfolio reshaping is still unfinished because the Primary Packaging Plastics sale remains subject to its own closing process. Gerresheimer has said that the second sale is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

The divestiture also removes a profitable contributor from the group. In Gerresheimer’s preliminary first-half 2026 figures, Centor generated €97.6 million of revenue and €33.6 million of adjusted EBITDA on a basis that included intercompany activity. That provides useful context for the trade-off: the company is exchanging a business that contributed earnings for cash that management intends to use to lower leverage and support a narrower portfolio.

Debt reduction is part of a wider refinancing plan

Gerresheimer has tied the Centor sale directly to its balance-sheet reset. In the Oct. 1 completion announcement, management said the cash inflow strengthens the company’s financial position and supports further debt reduction. It also reiterated that proceeds from the eventual Primary Packaging Plastics closing are expected to contribute to the same effort.

The debt load remains material. In its Sept. 30 preliminary Q2 presentation, Gerresheimer reported net financial debt of €2.058 billion, compared with €1.954 billion in Q1 2026 and €1.944 billion in Q2 2025. Liquidity was €249 million. The same presentation said the leverage covenant had been suspended through Q3 and that a broader refinancing was being prepared around a sustainable leverage level of roughly 3 times.

The company has been working with creditors through 2026 while it repaired its reporting and financing position. In April, Gerresheimer said 96% of the holders of its €870 million promissory-note volume had agreed to extend the deadline for submission of the audited 2025 financial statements, while its banks also agreed to an extension subject to customary conditions. Key debt-ratio covenants were waived through the third quarter. Gerresheimer later published its 2025 annual and consolidated financial statements in June.

Operating cash flow has also remained a focus. Preliminary Q2 results showed revenue of €578 million and adjusted EBITDA of €102 million, both higher than in Q1 but below the year-earlier quarter, while free cash flow before M&A was negative €92 million. Gerresheimer attributed the quarter’s cash-flow pressure largely to working-capital movements, including lower reverse factoring and higher receivables as revenue increased.

Against that backdrop, the Centor proceeds are one component of a broader financial plan rather than a stand-alone fix. Gerresheimer has said it intends to complete a comprehensive refinancing after the Primary Packaging Plastics sale, with preparations already underway in consultation with creditors.

Primary Packaging Plastics is the next milestone

The portfolio strategy extends beyond debt reduction. Management says the reshaped Gerresheimer will focus more heavily on high-value primary packaging and drug delivery systems, areas it describes as having attractive growth prospects, high regulatory barriers to entry and long customer relationships.

The Sept. 30 presentation also laid out a wider operating agenda. Gerresheimer is targeting €50 million to €70 million of annualized EBITDA improvement by 2028 through its transformation program, alongside tighter capital spending, working-capital management and cost measures. It is also working to improve the performance of its Moulded Glass business and prepare that operation for a later divestiture.

For investors, the next concrete milestone in the debt plan is the Primary Packaging Plastics closing. That sale represents the remaining part of the roughly €1.5 billion combined enterprise value attached to the two businesses sold to Apax Funds. Once it closes, Gerresheimer expects another cash inflow and plans to move ahead with the broader group refinancing.

Until then, the financial effect of the restructuring will arrive in stages. Centor has left the group and its sale proceeds are available for debt reduction now; the remaining Primary Packaging Plastics proceeds, and the refinancing that management plans around them, depend on a separate closing that Gerresheimer currently expects in the first half of 2027.