In June, the British company announced it would close down the Brasov plant, the second largest drug maker in Romania, as at group level there is a production overcapacity for solid oral forms (also manufactured at Europharm), and the process will be completed next year. The shutdown comes as the group maintains it has failed to find a buyer in the past year.
GSK bought Europharm in two stages, and the total deal could be valued at EUR20-25 million.
Europharm also owns a drug distribution company, which remains part of the group and which generated revenue of EUR219 million and had losses of EUR1 million last year.
Had it managed to sell the plant, this would not have been GSK’s first deal in Romania, after the group sold the pharmacies operated under Europharm brand in 2005 to Sensiblu in a complex deal, which ZF put at over EUR10 million.
Before the shutdown announcement, the plant employed 236 persons and production will be moved to other units of the group, in Poland and Spain.
The plant was the largest pharma exporter and the British group’s announcement about its intention to give up the domestic production unit came as a surprise considering it had had plans to set up a EUR300 million export base here.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)