Fortissimo Fund Sells CTS Pharmaceutical Operations to Dexcel Pharma for 250 Million Shekels

After several months of negotiations, the pharmaceutical company CTS is being sold to Dexcel. Calcalist has learned that the deal was closed at a price of around 250 million shekels for CTS.

The acquisition covers the pharmaceutical operations of CTS, while other activities will be sold separately in the future. This concerns the main activity of CTS, which is 80% controlled by the Fortissimo fund led by Yuval Cohen, which acquired it four years ago for 187 million shekels. Sigal First, a member of the founding family of CTS, who holds 20% of the company, will join the deal and sell her stake.

The deal does not include the real estate of CTS at the factory in Kiryat Malachi, nor the activity of the company Flourish, which was acquired by CTS in 2023 for 75 million shekels. The agricultural products sector of CTS will also remain with the company. The CTS factory will continue to produce for Dexcel for several years, but the sale is already raising concerns among some employees regarding a possible closure in the future and the transfer of drug production to Dexcel.

The pharmaceutical company Dexcel Pharma is owned by Dan Oren, whose two sons, Ilan and Ori Oren, serve as co-CEOs. The sale marks the exit of the Fortissimo fund from the pharmaceutical field. CTS produces more than 100 different products based on formulas developed in-house, and markets products under agreements with international pharmaceutical companies. The company was founded in 1975 by Meir Cohen and has four areas of activity: pharma, nutritional supplements, agriculture, and veterinary. It employs about 400 workers in factories in Kiryat Malachi, Masu'ot Yitzhak, and Kiryat Ata.