Labormed will serve as Alvogen’s head office in Central and Eastern Europe, the U.S. company said in a statement.
“Labormed facilities will be the manufacturing, R&D, sales and marketing base for the entire region. The acquisition will significantly strengthen Alvogen’s market position in Romania,” reads the statement.
Labormed’s product portfolio includes cardiovascular and central nervous system medicines, as well as on OTC analgesics, vitamins, probiotics and cough & cold. Its portfolio complements Alvogen’s existing portfolio, which mainly focuses on oncology and hospital products.
“Our core objective for strategic acquisitions is to find opportunities that extend our product portfolio and manufacturing capacity as well as broaden our platform for growth in core markets. Labormed entirely fits that rationale and therefore represents another significant step forward for Alvogen in the CEE region, a key market where we already generate a third of our total revenues. The transaction brings considerable product and marketing synergies and positions us well to take advantage of further opportunities in the CEE pharmaceutical market,” said Alvogen Chairman and CEO Robert Wessman.
Laurentiu Scheusan, who formerly managed local operations for pharmaceuticals company Actavis, will continue to lead Alvogen’s CEE operation.
Labormed was set up in 1991 by a group of Romanian doctors and pharmacists. Following a EUR13 million greenfield investment, Labormed opened a drug production unit in Bucharest in May 2007. In February 2008, Labormed was taken over by investment fund Advent for EUR123 million.
According to market research company Cegedim, between October 2011 and September 2012, Labormed was the 15th largest Romanian drug producer with sales of 231.3 million lei (EUR52.8 million) and a market share of 2%.
Alvogen entered Romania in 2010. It is present in over 20 states, including Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, China, Thailand, Taiwan and North America.
Advent is one of the world’s largest private equity firms and administers assets of EUR19.4 billion.
Between 2003 and 2006, Advent controlled drug producer Terapia Cluj-Napoca, which it sold to Indian group Ranbaxy for $324 million. In Romania, Advent also owns Dufa Deutek, private healthcare service provider Regina Maria and tile maker Ceramica Iasi. (EUR1=RON4.3828)