Gedeon Richter takes out 23m-euro loan

Pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter, the local subsidiary of the Hungarian group Richter, will take out 23.7 million-euro credit to finance its investments in 2008, according to the announcement published in the Official Gazette. The company took out credit worth 22.8 million euros in May this year, and credit worth 14 million euros in February, and also performed several capital increases, thus sustaining its acquisition strategy on the local market. According to data centralised by ZF, funding attracted from the majority shareholder, Richter Gedeon Vegyszeti, surpassed 90 million euros between 2006 and 2007. Gedeon has an all-encompassing structure on the Romanian market, which includes production, distribution and retail. The group entered the local market in 1998, after it acquired the Targu-Mures-based Armedica plant. Later, the company became one of the leading market players, both in the distribution and the retail sector.