Adds detail on returns and employees, paragraphs 4 and 6

By Maggie Fick and Stine Jacobsen

LONDON/COPENHAGEN, April 2 (Reuters) - Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO, nearly doubled annual income and investment returns to a record 8 billion euros ($8.66 billion) in 2024, it said on Wednesday.

Fuelled by dividends from the company behind blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, Novo Holdings is a life sciences investment powerhouse that manages assets for the Novo Nordisk Foundation, one of the world's biggest philanthropic bodies.

"2024 was a very strong year for Novo Holdings, with our investment portfolio delivering its best ever performance," CEO Kasim Kutay said in a statement.

The portfolio generated returns of 18% for the year, up from 9.4% in 2023, Novo Holdings said.

Kutay said the company would focus this year on expanding its presence in Asia, with the opening of an office in Mumbai after significant investments already made in India last year.

It now has 205 employees globally, its 2024 annual report said, up from 178 by the end of 2023.

The portfolio comprises investments in life sciences and a broad range of assets - equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity. It has controlling stakes in Novo Nordisk, in which it has 77% of voting shares, and Novonesis NSISb.CO.

In 2024 Novo Holdings invested 4.6 billion euros in life sciences targeting cancer, obesity and neurodegenerative disorders, adding 43 new companies while making 27 exits.

Its biggest acquisition by far last year was of pharma manufacturing and services company Catalent for $16.5 billion, the largest healthcare buyout in 2024. It subsequently sold three Catalent manufacturing plants to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion to boost Wegovy production.

However, total assets under management dropped slightly to 142 billion euros in 2024, from 149 billion in 2023, driven by a decline in Novo Nordisk's market value.

Novo Nordisk's market value has roughly halved since July 2024, partly because of investor concern that it has lost its first-mover advantage in the fiercely competitive obesity drug market to U.S. rival Eli Lilly LLY.N.

($1 = 0.9240 euros)

(Reporting by Maggie Fick in London and Stine Jacobsen in CopenhagenEditing by Tomasz Janowski and David Goodman)

((maggie.fick@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7890 916706;))