Hello, a warm welcome to all. Today we'll have an ad hoc press conference. My name is Sam Ghezelbash. I'm delighted to be here, and I have the pleasure of succeeding Thomas Kutt. I'll be covering both M&A and investor relations. I'm thrilled to be here today with Simon Michel, our CEO, and Samuel Künzli, our CFO. Indeed, today marks a key milestone in our journey, and without further ado, I will pass on hand over to Simon to share the news. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Sam. Great. A warm welcome from my side as well here out of the Solothurn Ypsomed Studio this afternoon. This will be a short update for you, something we have been working on for quite some time, and you have read this morning in the news, Ypsomed exits Diabetes Care. We have signed yesterday, and we are going to close in the second half of 2025. The agreement has been signed with TecMed AG. TecMed was bidding and in the process from the very beginning. We will deepen with you today how this has happened, et cetera. More or less, I would like to lead you through what has happened over the past four years so you understand the story again. Ypsomed is on the way of becoming a pure-play injection system specialist, and this is an important moment for us.
We have started four years ago by transferring Ypsomed by breaking up the matrix and working into business areas. We have then exited DiaExpert, our retail business in Germany. We have discontinued contract manufacturing relationships. We are just in the mode of moving the Sanofi lines out and moving Novo Nordisk in here in Solothurn. We have exited our pen needle and BGM business, a piece which has been for 20 years with us in the mylife portfolio. We have decided in November to sell Diabetes Care business, and now after five months, very structured process, we have signed the deal with TecMed AG, and we expect closing in the second half of 2025. It's an important step for Ypsomed. It's an important step for Diabetes Care as well. Diabetes Ca re is being released. It's becoming a pure-play B2C player.
I'm going to explain a bit more what it means for our patients as well, for our customers, but especially for Ypsomed. This is what we have been working on for such a long time. Ypsomed is now a very clear pure-play B2B company that can grow, a company that can grow in its environment together with its clients, its customers, big pharma biotech, but also globally and eventually even further down the road in the vertical in our value chain. A very, very clear story by separating the two entities. This has been the result of a very structured process. I have actually been taken out of the process at a certain point in time when TecMed showed the interest, but in order to deepen all these details, how it has happened, I would like to hand over to Samuel.
Thank you, Simon. How did we structure the divestment process? We first selected an investment bank to structure the auction process. We selected Rothschild. We did a broad marketing, and we received interest from financial sponsors and strategic buyers. We did the due diligence. We did the negotiations, and TecMed was selected as the ideal buyer. TecMed is owned by Willy Michel, and we wanted to make sure that this related party transaction is fair. That is why we mandated an independent appraisal company. We mandated IFBC, who has a very good reputation in the market. IFBC came to the conclusion that this purchase price with a nominal value up to CHF 420 million is fair. This purchase price also includes an earn-out. The earn-out is a minor part of it. It is less than 25% of these CHF 420 million.
You see the vast majority, 75%+, is cash. What are we going to do with this cash? We will invest this cash to expand our core business, the delivery system business. Have in mind this business is very fast- growing and it is capital-i ntensive. We do not plan to propose to the shareholders a special dividend from these proceeds. I want to further elaborate why TecMed is the ideal buyer. First of all, there is a strong strategic rationale. TecMed owns the patch pump program and is therefore a well-known specialist in the Diabetes Care area. Moreover, TecMed has a long-term commitment and a clear vision for the future of the Ypsomed Diabetes Care business, and this brings stability to all stakeholders, to the patients, the healthcare professionals, to the strategic partners of the business, and also the employees.
To elaborate further on the strategic rationale, I hand now over to Simon.
Thank you very much. Yes, indeed. There is, of course, a highly strategic logic behind the interest of TecMed. As Samuel just elaborated, TecMed invested over CHF 100 million in the development of a patch pump. There is a way to go, but they are lacking a sales infrastructure. They are lacking a call center infrastructure. They are lacking a logistic infrastructure. This is all, this is a core element of what YDC has been building up under the lead of Sebastian Delarue over the past years. A very healthy, well-structured organization in 20 countries offering the access to the market, and TecMed showed this highly strategic interest in that piece in order to also sell, of course, the patch pump. The portfolio that TecMed is going to propose is, of course, a complete portfolio that is really unique out there.
This unique mylife ecosystem contains not only the patch pump with the app and the relationship with both Dexcom and Abbott, but it also contains the patch pump. A complete product portfolio collaborating closely with CamAPS app from CamDiab . The whole logic, the logic ecosystem, the smart system that is provided will also work for the patch pump. An ideal proposition. What does it mean for our company? We have roughly 200 colleagues that will locate from our Solothurn mylife hub today in Solothurn to Burgdorf into new offices where TecMed acquired a large building that is going to be the new home for those colleagues. In Solothurn, Ypsomed will get some new space. Important, we are growing, as you know, heavily. We are going to invest over CHF 200 million here in Solothurn alone.
This is, of course, the Novo Nordisk lines for all the injectors. We also built a new manufacturing floor in building four for new devices and new platforms. We are building a new high-bay logistic and warehouse center. We are building the new tool shop, as we have explained during the half-year figures. We are going to finish our forum, our conference center. The whole Solothurn area is becoming more and more important here for Ypsomed. We need the space. We can use the space. It's actually the ideal moment also that we are able to move our colleagues before the end of the year to Burgdorf in order to have the space for Ypsomed's growth and success story. Yes, with that, dear ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, I would like to end. I'm asking Sam back on stage here.
We moved the camera back on the total, so you see all of us. Now we are going to have a structured process, but I hand the word over to Sam, who will lead us through those Q&A.
Thank you very much. Very important milestone indeed. Thank you. Feel free to ask your question. You would have to click on the hand raise icon. I already see that we have some questions, so I will take them in order. Number one, Daniel Jelovcan, please feel free to ask your question. Our team will unmute your mic.
Yeah. Good afternoon. You hear me?
Yes.
Very good. The first question is, what happened with the other new ones Simon mentioned in an interview at year end of 2024 that you had some 20 interested parties? I mean, basically, I can say who cares now, but what was the decision of them? It's too tough to build it out, or was it the price in the end? It's the first question. I have another one, but I just wait for the answer for the first one.
Let me start, and then I hand over to Samuel. Thank you, Daniel, for the question. Yes, indeed. I mean, in the very beginning, we had over 20 interested parties, both financial sponsors and strategics. During the process, it was eased out, but maybe you can add some word here to that process, Samuel.
Gladly. Thanks for the question, Daniel. We had several criteria. One, of course, among them was the price, but also what is the strategic rationale, what is the plan to do with that business, how to develop that business. You understand for confidentiality reason, we can now not tell you in very detail who stayed until how long in that process, but as I mentioned, after the final negotiation, due diligence, TecMed came out as the ideal buyer.
Okay. The second question, it's a bit a special one. It's difficult to ask, but I got this question from investors as well today. Indirectly, they fear that TecMed has to sell some Ypsomed shares to finance the deal. I told them honestly, I don't know how well the family office is. You know what? It's a difficult question, but.
Actually, it's a good one. You know, I mean, I think it's absolutely fair. You know, and as always, you know, if you have potential investors with an interest in packages, and we did that with many of you in the call here for the past 10 years, give now new Sam a call or ring me and we look for such packages. I mean, you know, we are going to keep the vast majority. I mean, we have no interest to dilute us below 2/3 . There might be some room. My dad doesn't need the money, to my knowledge, from selling shares, but as always, tell your customers, Daniel, they should approach us via you and we can have such, entertain such a dialogue.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your question. Perhaps we'll now take the second question from Sibylle. I think the team will unmute you so you can ask the question. The floor is yours. I believe you still need to unmute yourself as well, Sibylle.
Oh, very good. Thank you very much. I had a question about the price and the earn-out. I mean, for me, it's clear now the upfront payment you will have. Could you give us a little more color on the earn-out? What are the rules and the details? And do I understand it correctly? Ypsomed at the moment, Ypsomed is doing the whole research and is paid then by TecMed, sorry. And will it be the same with the YpsoPump or how will this work? Thank you.
Would you like Samuel to take this question?
Yeah, I start gladly, Sibylle, with the earnout. The earnout structure is a typical one you see in a deal. I mentioned it's the minor part, so less than 25% and less than CHF 100 million is related to that earnout. It is related to how it's also common to the future success measured by the future sales. That is the structure of the earnout. Regarding the second question regarding Ypsomed and how it's done in the future, I maybe hand over to you, Simon.
Basically, we are also going to transfer the team, the Ypsomed patch pump team, to TecMed. This is roughly 40 people that will also move from Ypsomed to TecMed. That is part of the package. It makes a lot of sense that we no longer entertain such a contract development R&D relationship. The team will also join TecMed in fall.
Okay. Until then, you will do that.
Yes, we continue to do that. Yes, exactly. I mean, we are still in this phase now. We call it Mercury 3. It's this transition phase of four-five months where we have to take a couple of measures in IT where we especially need to work on the contract for our colleagues, employees, and some regulatory work in the countries. As you can imagine, that's a very structured process. All colleagues from Ypsomed that are currently working for TecMed are receiving an offer by TecMed, and they have the right to choose, of course, whether they want to join the new company. I think most of them or all of them will actually move to TecMed, bringing that great innovation, this new patch pump to market.
Thank you very much.
Great. Thank you very much. Is there any other additional question? Please feel free to raise your hand and click on the icon. I think we have here another question. It will be from Sandra. Please, the team will unmute your mic so you can ask your question.
Yes, thank you. I have a short follow-up on the earn-out. Samuel, you said it's a typical earn-out structure. Is it fair to assume that this roughly CHF 100 million will be paid out over three years? Is that a fair assumption of a time horizon? I have a second one. I mean, you have built this manufacturing site for the infusion sets manufacturing for the pump business. We have seen that, very impressive. Will you continue to manufacture for TecMed as a contract manufacturer, the infusion sets, at least over a certain time, or what is the plan there?
I gladly take the first one and then hand over to Simon. Yes. Your assumption is fair. This earnout does not take longer than three years. That is a correct assumption. Yes, it is slightly below the CHF 100 million. For the second question, I hand over to Simon.
Sure. Yes, absolutely. I mean, we have two elements where we still continue to keep a relationship for three to maximum five years. This is the infusion set business, the Orbit business, what you have seen in Schwerin in the clean room. That is some parts for the insulin pumps and the reservoir, some parts that we still manufacture in Lochbach in Burgdorf. This is a pure contract manufacturing deal. We have negotiated the key terms. This is now to be put under wet ink, but basically, it is a regular relationship. We want to minimize the duration. Both parties have actually the interest to minimize the duration. First of all, TecMed wants to become independent. They believe they can get a better deal than buying it from us.
We also need the space in three, four years for our YpsoDose, our patch injector program, where this clean room in Schwerin will be ideal, perfect. This will be a transition phase, contractually agreed on the contractual terms, but it's indeed quite a sum, up to CHF 40 million in revenue that we will keep on here during this duration of three years in a contract area with, of course, a slightly lower margin than our average. We will then stop it and then we'll have a positive effect on the overall margin. That is for both the sets, infusion sets, as well as the pump parts.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Indeed. Thank you. Perhaps we'll jump now to Olivier Calvet since you haven't asked a question first. If the team can unmute, then you can ask your question.
Yes, thanks, Sam. Just one more on the earnout. You've talked about a period when that applies, about three years or less. Could you just confirm that there is no profitability-related element in that earnout?
Perhaps that's a question for you, Samuel.
Yeah. No, I mentioned that the earn-out is related to the top line, the sales. That is the main driver of that earn-out.
There's no profit-related part of the earn-out. It's very simple.
Thank you.
Thank you, perhaps. Now we can go back to Daniel. You have a follow-up question?
Yes, thanks. Just one last. I tried to recall in my memory what you said about the profitability about the Diabetes Care business. I think you said that it's becoming closer to break even towards the end of the fiscal year, so March. Now we are in April. Since we are in a public call, maybe you can even be a bit more specific about the profitability of YDC. It would be nice. Thanks.
Or maybe not because of the short period to the annual figures, but maybe you can add some.
Yeah, Daniel, it's a good question. Just have in mind, yeah, we are now in the silent period. We just closed the books end of March. In a month, we will show our annual results. What you saw, the trajectory you saw when we published the half-year results, you know that it is going in the direction of being this profitability break-even. Yes, the trajectory, you can assume is going in that direction. I ask for your understanding. I cannot be more specific at this point regarding the profitability of the Diabetes Care business. Happy then to catch up on that in May.
Fair enough. Thanks a lot.
Indeed, we also have a roadshow plan in May. Perhaps we can cover this question after the four-year results are published. Perhaps now we will go next to Marianne Bulot. The team can unmute you and you may ask your question.
This is better now. Maybe now you can hear me. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I understand that you will use the proceeds from the sales to finance the CapEx expansion for the rest of the business. Should we assume that that means you will not need to raise any additional debt to finance the CapEx expansion, at least in the near term? I am just trying to understand a little bit how does the sales maybe change or add to the financing that you need for the CapEx expansion. The second question, could you maybe give a little bit more details on how Ypsomed looks pro forma, excluding the Diabetes Care ? How does it look like in terms of profitability?
Of course, I understand you can't talk about the future figures, but maybe anything of the, let's say, past figures, how does that look like? Maybe it's also something that you will share on the 21st of May, but just wondering. Thank you.
Good. Marianne, thank you for your questions. Maybe first one regarding the CapEx needs. Yes, we are indeed, we are heavily growing. We have high growth CapEx. Your assumption is right that now, because of these proceeds, purely now the cash we get from that deal is roughly CHF 300 million, will of course allow us to finance really the near-term CapEx fully from those proceeds. Anyway, our balance sheet is stable enough to also finance the full CapEx program we have planned until the end of the decade by ourselves. We do not need to raise equity. Debt at a later point, that is of course still possible that we raise debt, but not equity. That regarding the first question.
The second one here, of course, I can also now not talk about actual numbers, but what you saw, I want to highlight what you saw in the half-year results when we showed also how the business looks, the core business looks standalone. There you saw this much higher profitability of the core business. On that slide, you saw that we have in this core business EBIT margins of north than 30%. That is something you can also see from the historic numbers. Again, since we are on track, you did not hear any profit warning for you. It is fair to assume that it has developed in the line we showed at the half-year results.
Okay. Thank you very much.
You're welcome. Thank you. We may move now to Julian Witschi from the Berner Zeitung newspaper. May the team unmute perhaps, Julian, and you can ask your question.
You would have also to unmute yourself by clicking on the mic button icon. Julian.
Can you hear me now? Sorry.
Now it's good.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. Sorry. What does this separation mean for the footprint of Ypsomed in Burgdorf as you are now strongly investing in Solothurn in the future?
It's actually a great win for Burgdorf. We are adding over 300 new people and colleagues in Bern, the canton of Bern, since we are moving people out of Solothurn to Burgdorf. Solothurn will actually have empty space for the next three years until we fill those offices again. Ypsomed itself will have 35-40 people moving from Ypsomed Oberburg to Burgdorf, the new headquarter next to the train station in Burgdorf, the new headquarter of TecMed. It's a large building which has space for roughly 400 people. You have about 210 people coming from Solothurn to Burgdorf. They have some TecMed people. All in all, it's about 300 colleagues that will actually be stationed in the new TecMed headquarter next to the train station in Burgdorf. For the canton of Bern, it's a great win. It's a great day.
We had contact this morning already with the Regierungsrat and Wirtschaftsförderung. You can imagine it's a very good thing. For Solothurn, it's also positive because in the end, we are getting space and Ypsomed will now grow here in Burgdorf. Ypsomed is so full. At lunch, you have to eat in three shifts. Now we get a bit we cannot grow anymore in Burgdorf. We will now fill in the future here Solothurn offices with Ypsomed colleagues.
The seat of Ypsomed will remain in Burgdorf?
No, of course this has nothing to do with Ypsomed. I mean, Ypsomed will remain in Burgdorf. That will not change. That is important. It is only about relocating a small team of 35 employees to TecMed. That is also in Burgdorf. That is not an issue. Ypsomed will remain in Burgdorf. That's very important.
Thank you.
If you have Vichy, if you have any other questions, we can also have a direct in-depth discussion after this call if you have further questions. I think it's important for people in the area, in the region, in Bern, in Burgdorf to understand what really happens. Give me a call, an email, and we schedule a quick call.
Thank you.
Brilliant. Thank you very much, Julian, for your question. Thank you. Now we have a follow-up question from Sandra. May the team unmute Sandra and you may ask your question.
Yes, thank you. As you are now on track to becoming this pure play self-injection specialist, any thoughts on Ypsotec or what are the potential plans around that business segment? That is the first. The second question, you are heavily investing in capacity expansion, as we heard. Maybe you can also update us on your thoughts or plans to establish a manufacturing site in the U.S.. That would be helpful. Thank you.
Sure. We will give full light on this topic in May. I can tell you, yes, we are going to start a process for TecMed at some point in time. We tried that already three years ago, as you remember. Corona came and we had to stop. For the US, yes, we are also going to communicate where we are going to establish our site. We have started the North America program two years ago already. We have looked at Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Canada, and Northern America. We are now in North America, remaining in two states. We are currently in negotiation with the two governors. You can imagine now we have very good cards to negotiate with the two governors in order to maximize the support of the respective states.
We're going to communicate that in May, latest June, because we have to start then applying for the permits. No, it's absolutely important for us. Ypsomed will become truly global, both with its sites in Switzerland and Germany, the China office, China site that we are going to inaugurate in June this year, and then the US, which we're going to open in the course of 2027. That is a very clear aligned plan, also in the expectation of our customers who want us to get closer and closer in order to optimize their supply chain, but also lower the carbon footprint.
Perfect. Thanks.
Great. Another follow-up question from Sibylle. Sibylle, can I ask you a question?
Thank you very much. You said that you plan to close the deal in the second half of 2025. What does it mean? What has to be done until then? Do you need approval of authorities, or is it more you have to spin off and move the people to a separation of software and so on? If you could elaborate on that, please.
I can start and then I hand over to my colleagues here on stage. The good thing is that we are now in Mercury 2. In Mercury 1, until the end of November, we already transferred all employees working for Diabetes Care into a separate Ypsomed Diabetes Care AG. We explained that in November. That is very important. All colleagues already have the correct contract. Now we are just moving the company under TecMed. That simplifies this process very much. Number one. Number two, yes, we have certain regulatory checks in the countries from a competition law perspective, but that is not a problem. It is just a thing you have to go through. We calculate in the maximum in one or two countries for a two-month process, but not longer.
IT, yes, of course, separation, but a large part of the separation has happened already since we have established the Ypsomed Diabetes Care AG end of November. We have already copied SAP 100%. So Ypsomed Diabetes Care is already working on its separate SAP and ERP system, the separate warehouse. This is already done. Now, of course, we will have a, we call it Mercury 3 and Mercury 4 program, a one-year transition because there are physical servers and stuff like that. Yes, there is a transition, website, social media, etc., etc. This is a thing we believe we can do in four or five months. We definitely want to close way before Christmas. My personal goal is to close before the half-year figures so we can really work together on the Ypsomed plan.
It does not mean that something could happen and you could not close the deal because you expect that authorities will give you an approval very soon?
No, we don't have any such risks in our plan.
Thank you.
Perfect. Thank you very much. Is there any other question or I see also a question from Shashwat? The team will unmute your mic and you may ask your question.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. My question is more related to the core business post this strategic sale, right? Basically what I wanted to understand or get some color from your side in terms of how the overall demand for the drug delivery devices could pan out post the successful clinical trials by Eli Lilly in general. I mean, how should one look at the entire space?
In general, I mean, our core Ypsomed Delivery Systems business has a lot of tailwind. We see the explosion of biologic drugs. Over 70% of all new drugs in the space have to be injected. There's only a small, small, small trend that goes into orals. We see the first year in history where we see more injectable FDA approvals than oral FDA approvals, number one. Number two, we see biosimilars. More and more drugs get off patent. This leads to many local pharma biotech companies in emerging markets that Ypsomed is also serving. We see the general trend of self-care so that drugs are really moving home away from hospital IV into subcu. We are profiting from that.
If we look at our pure figures, we see a compound average growth of close to 20%, 15% to 20% for sure, some years maybe even above 20% until the end of the decade. We see a very strong growth trajectory now for Ypsomed. That is actually one of the key reasons why we divest Diabetes Care to become a pure play, very focused company that can focus on growth, can focus on operational excellence. The space of delivery systems, the space of parenteral drugs is exploding. This is not just because of GLP-1s. That is very broad. If you look at our 200 projects in our pipeline, remember we have 70 products in the market and we have over 200 in our pipeline. If you look at the 200 in our pipeline, we have 70 in the space of autoimmune disease.
We have 50 in the space of GLP-1. And then we have many, many other hormones and neuro and other stuff. So very broad spectrum of drugs that have to be injected via pens or auto-injectors. I don't know if this answers your questions. Otherwise, please feel free to ask again or more specifically.
Perfect. That was great. Thank you.
Thank you all for your interest. Thank you that so many of you were here today and for an interactive session. Thank you for your questions. If you have no other further comments, we will now close this call. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.