Healthcare company Grifols has entered into an agreement to acquire Cerberus Capital Management’s portfolio company Talecris Biotherapeutics for a combination of cash and newly issued Grifols non-voting shares.

Cerberus controls an affiliate that owns approximately 49 per cent of the outstanding common stock of Talecris, a biotherapeutic and biotechnology company.

"We are excited about the prospect of becoming shareholders of Grifols. Led by Victor Grifols, Grifols has long been known as a leading innovator in the plasma-derived protein therapeutics field," says W. Brett Ingersoll, co-head of private equity at Cerberus. "Victor Grifols and his management team have over 30 years of working together and proven experience in building and managing a best-in-class company. We are confident that the Grifols team, coupled with the proven team at Talecris, will continue to build value for the combined company and its shareholders, including Cerberus."

The Cerberus affiliate, which will become a significant shareholder of Grifols, has agreed, subject to certain conditions, to vote its Talecris shares in favour of the merger.