Jan 16 (Reuters) - Novo Holdings, the controlling

shareholder of Novo Nordisk, hopes to double the size

of its recently acquired contract drugmaker Catalent over five

years, a senior partner at the investment firm said, as it

prepares for a likely focus on U.S. manufacturing by

President-elect Donald Trump.

Novo Holdings last month closed a $16.5 billion deal to buy

U.S.-based Catalent. The firm then sold three of Catalent's

plants used to complete the drug manufacturing process to Novo

Nordisk for $11 billion as part of the deal, to help the Danish

drugmaker ramp up supplies of its popular weight-loss drug

Wegovy.

Jonathan Levy, the Novo Holdings partner who led the deal,

in an interview this week said his firm did not want to

overcommit to a revenue target before it had a chance to set out

a corporate strategy with Catalent's management.

"But doubling the size of your business over five years is

always a nice barometer to work on, and I think we could do

something more here from an enterprise value perspective," Levy

told Reuters at the JPMorgan health conference in San Francisco.

Catalent, which had sales of $4.38 billion in 2024, will

hold its next board meeting in February, according to Levy.

Levy said he expects more drugmakers that currently rely on

manufacturers in China and India to look for western service

providers with Trump set to return to the White House on Monday,

given his America first focus.

Catalent and Thermo Fisher Scientific ( TMO ) unit Patheon

-- two of the largest contract drug manufacturers based in the

U.S. -- could be beneficiaries of such moves.

In addition to his outspoken preference for U.S.

manufacturing, Trump has said he will hit China with new tariffs

on the first day of his presidency, but Levy did not discuss how

that might affect pharmaceuticals.

Levy said Novo Holdings has a venture vehicle with more than

90 biopharmaceutical assets that will be "a tremendous pipeline"

for Catalent.

He also said he was closely watching lawmaker efforts to

pass a bill that would restrict U.S. business with certain

Chinese biotechnology companies, including contract drug

manufacturer WuXi AppTec.

"Companies like WuXi, for example, they (will) struggle as a

result of it," Levy said, "and companies like Catalent will

benefit."