Apotex raising IPO size to $1.3-billion on strong investor demand, shares priced at $24, source says

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Apotex Health Corp., Canada’s largest drug manufacturer, is increasing the size of its initial public offering to $1.3-billion on the back of strong investor demand and will price its shares at $24 each on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The drug manufacturer set out to raise $1-billion and hoped to price its shares between $20 and $24 apiece. It is now raising 30 per cent more than planned, and has priced the deal at the top end of its marketing range, according to someone familiar with the transaction.

The Globe and Mail is not naming the source because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.

Apotex did not immediately return a request for comment, but the company was expected to publicly announce the deal size and pricing after stock markets closed Tuesday, with its shares set to start trading on Wednesday.

The larger IPO size allows Apotex’s private equity backer and other shareholders to sell more stock. Initially, they planned to sell $150-million worth of shares, but will now sell $450-million. The remaining $850-million raised will flow to Apotex’s coffers, and the company will use the money to pay down debt.

The larger deal size, referred to on Bay Street as upsizing, is a positive sign for Canada’s capital markets, which have struggled to attract IPOs in recent years. A flurry of technology companies went public early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but many saw their share prices drop sharply after listing – and a number have since been sold to private equity firms at depressed valuations.

The Apotex IPO will be the largest in Canada since Definity Financial Corp., an insurer, went public in a $1.4-billion share offering in 2021.

However, the Apotex deal is being finalized amid some turmoil in American stock markets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell nearly 1 per cent Tuesday and is now down nearly 5 per cent over the past five days. If markets continue to fall, it could put pressure on Apotex’s newly listed shares.

Toronto-based Apotex was founded in 1974 by the late Barry Sherman and made its name by producing generic versions of drugs that had lost their patents. Mr. Sherman was famously litigious, fighting court battles over drug patents with major pharmaceutical companies and generic rivals. The company now has more than 6,500 global employees churning out 25 billion doses of medicine each year and selling in 70 countries.

In its latest fiscal year, 45 per cent of Apotex’s sales came from Canada, 46 per cent came from the United States and the rest were international. The company marketed its IPO as a way for investors to capitalize on multiple developments, including the growing prevalence of chronic diseases, and an aging global population that will create more demand for health care products.

Mr. Sherman and his wife, Honey, were killed at their Toronto home in December, 2017, and the case has never been solved. After their deaths, Apotex was sold to New York-based SK Capital Partners LP, a private equity fund focused on life sciences.

SK is selling some of its stake through the IPO but will remain a major owner of the drug manufacturer.

In recent years, Apotex has expanded beyond generic pills and now sells generic versions of a range of treatments including liquids, inhalers and topicals, as well as biosimilars – approved versions of existing injectable biologic drugs. In 2024, Apotex bought specialty drug seller Searchlight Pharma Inc. for $502-million. That marked a strategic shift, as Searchlight sells patented drugs exclusively in jurisdictions where it has licensed that right from foreign pharmaceutical companies.

Last year, Apotex moved into vitamins by purchasing Toronto-based CanPrev Natural Health Products, one of the country’s largest supplement manufacturers, for $184.5-million. CanPrev sells more than 250 branded products online and through 3,400 retail outlets in Canada, the U.S. and international markets.

While the deals are designed to deliver growth, Apotex has also added much more debt to its balance sheet over this period, with the total burden rising to $2.9-billion as of March 31 – more than doubling in two years.

In July, 2025, the company also recapitalized and paid a $1.1-billion dividend to certain shareholders.

Apotex made $374-million in the year ended March 31, and $152-million the year prior.

With reports from Chris Hannay, Sean Silcoff and Jameson Berkow

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated that Apotex had hoped to price its shares between $22 and $24 apiece. It had hoped to price it between $20 and $24 apiece.