Advent International has agreed to sell Czech generic drugmaker Zentiva to Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR in a €4.1bn deal, marking one of Europe’s largest healthcare transactions this year, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The deal, which follows a competitive auction process, will deliver a profitable exit for Advent, which carved Zentiva out of French pharma giant Sanofi in 2018 for €1.9bn. Since then, Advent has expanded Zentiva into a pan-European platform, now active in 35 countries and supplying over-the-counter and prescription medicines to more than 100 million patients.
For GTCR, the acquisition underscores the firm’s continued appetite for healthcare assets. The Chicago-based manager, which oversees $46.7bn in AUM, had previously explored a bid for German generics player Stada and has a track record of backing scaled life sciences platforms.
The Zentiva deal comes just a week after CapVest agreed to acquire a majority stake in Stada at a €10bn valuation, highlighting ongoing private equity interest in the generics sector.
Private equity-led activity in healthcare has accelerated in 2025, with global transactions reaching $198bn by the end of August, according to LSEG Intelligence — up 2% on last year.
