Yesterday's filing in GEMI reveals a complex restructuring of the financing architecture of the Pharmathen group, which, as Euro2day.gr recently wrote, is in a phase of deep crisis.
At the core of the restructuring is additional liquidity of up to 100 million euros, in which, according to information, CVC and Goldman Sachs will participate, having already had a role in the lenders' structure.
Around it, however, a dense web of guarantees and collateral is being set up that shifts the balance of power even further toward the creditors -in a company whose equity value has already been valued at zero by investment vehicles of the main shareholder.
The text of the announcement for Pharmathen International does not describe simple bank financing. It reflects a comprehensive restructuring of the group's financing framework, with a maximum scope of up to 664.5 million euros, which includes new debt, intra-group bond loans, refinancing of existing obligations, corporate guarantees and security interests over critical assets.
How much is the truly “new” money
The amount of 664.5 million euros does not translate into a corresponding inflow of new liquidity. It is the sum of the upper limits of three distinct components, that is, the scope of the obligations that the Greek company and the other debtors undertake to guarantee and secure.
The first component is the “New Debt”: additional liquidity of an initial amount of 50 million euros, with the possibility of an increase by 30 million (accordion) and further through the issuance of PIK notes (notes that capitalize interest instead of paying it), with an ultimate ceiling of 100 million euros. This is the essentially new money of the transaction.
The second component concerns an intra-group refinancing bond loan, with an initial amount of 266.4 million euros, with a ceiling reaching (also through PIK) 400 million euros. It is therefore not new money, but a replacement of existing intra-group bond loans that had been issued by the parent company.
The third component is 164.5 million euros of outstanding principal under existing Greek bond agreements -old debt that is not refinanced, but acquires additional collateral.
The path of the money and a revealing asymmetry
The mechanics of the transaction are multi-layered. The New Debt is initially granted to the Dutch Pharmathen Bidco B.V., passes to Pharmathen Global B.V. and from there is directed to the direct shareholder of the Greek company, “PHARMATHEN S.A.” (PSA). Finally, PSA grants part of the amount to Pharmathen International through an intra-group bond loan.
Here lies a detail of particular weight. The bond loan through which the parent company “brings down” the liquidity to the operating company is described in the announcement as unsecured.
At the same time, however, the Greek company is called upon to provide a corporate guarantee and security interests — over real estate, machinery, shares, receivables, bank accounts and intellectual property rights — for the entirety of the New Debt and for the existing Greek bond loans.
In simple terms, the operating company receives the money as an unsecured borrower, but pledges its assets as a guarantor for the benefit of the entire group. Its role, that is, is more that of a provider of collateral than that of a protected recipient of liquidity.
The marks of a restructuring
Two more elements of the announcement should be noted.
First, approval of the transaction was required by the General Assembly because there was a conflict of interest involving all members of the Board of Directors. This is the typical mark of an intra-group restructuring, guided by the shareholder, where the same ultimate owner is on both sides of the table.
Second, companies of the Kroll group now appear in the position of security agent and loan agent, a firm specialized in restructurings and distressed situations. This transition, compared with earlier times when a Greek bank played this role, is in itself an indication of the climate.
It is noted that, according to the announcement, part of the new liquidity is intended not only for working capital and general corporate purposes, but also for repairs, upgrades and improvements of the production facilities, as well as for staff training “for the upgrading of the production operation.” The wording points to a company that urgently needs to restore operational and production normality.
The heavy backdrop with the US
Indeed, the debt restructuring move comes at a time that appears to be characterized by a particularly adverse regulatory and operational background.
The Pharmathen International unit in Sapes, Rhodope came under the spotlight of the US FDA. In its warning letter of May 27, 2026, the authority states that it inspected the plant from November 10 to 21, 2025 and identified serious deviations from current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) rules. The FDA even referred to recurring sterility failures and media fill testing failures over the last five years — that is, a chronic, not one-off, problem.
Even more critically, all products offered for import into the US by Pharmathen International had already been placed, on April 23, 2026, under Import Alert 66-40, a regime that allows the FDA to detain shipments at the border without physical examination. According to the correspondence made public by the authority, the company itself stated that it would cease the production and distribution of all medicines for the US market until it completed the corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
This therefore amounts to an effective halt in supplying one of the group's critical target markets.
It would, however, be inaccurate to attribute today's pressure exclusively to the import alert. The available data show that the deterioration had started earlier. The import alert acted as a catalyst that accelerated and “locked in” the crisis; it did not cause it on its own.
From 1.6 billion euros to zeroing out
The contrast with the recent past is stark. When, in July 2021, Partners Group announced the acquisition of Pharmathen from BC Partners, the transaction valued the company at an Enterprise Value of approximately 1.6 billion euros — up from the 475 million euros at which BC Partners had bought it in 2015.
The narrative then was the development of an international CDMO specializing in advanced drug delivery technologies and, above all, the acceleration of expansion in the US.
Five years later, the picture has reversed.
On June 12, 2026, Partners Group Private Equity Limited (a London-listed investment vehicle of the Partners Group group) announced that Pharmathen had been placed on FDA Import Alert restricting supply to the US market and that, based on the updated outlook, the implied enterprise value was deemed unlikely to be sufficient to cover the existing debt, so the relevant holding was valued at zero.
This vehicle held a stake of approximately 20 million euros — small in absolute terms. This is not, however, an isolated case. The much larger also listed Partners Group fund valued its holding of common shares in Pharmathen at 1 dollar.
What it means for lenders and shareholders
Against this backdrop, the meaning of the new move becomes clear. The lenders are not choosing rupture, but the financial stabilization of the company. They provide or allow additional liquidity, while at the same time drastically shielding their position with new guarantees and very broad collateral.
For creditors, it is a protective move. If the company restores its relationship with the FDA, regains normal access to the US (or turns toward Europe) and stabilizes its production, the new liquidity can function as a “bridge” to recovery.
If the restoration is delayed or proves more difficult, the lenders will find themselves in a strengthened position vis-à-vis the group's assets, as the stage of financing without collateral has been overtaken by developments.
For the shareholders, the message is more complex. The financing buys time and prevents a more abrupt scenario of a sale under pressure. But the value of their shares has ended up at the end of the capital chain, behind a heavy and now more strongly secured debt, which may become heavier through the capitalization of interest.