Schoenherr: Celesio wanted a low price for PharmaFarm

German giant Celesio, one of the largest drug distributors in Europe, has been in negotiations with two foreign players to sell its stake in Cluj-based PharmaFarm, which it had indirectly secured when it acquired the Slovenian company Kemofarmacija. Celesio started to contemplate the idea of selling the Romanian company in the spring of last year. “The transaction was very well organised and strategically focused, unlike other deals, and from the outset the idea was to offer a low price,” said Mihai Radulescu, a partner with law firm Schoenherr & Asociatii (Schoenherr & Partners), which provided legal consulting for Celesio. Radulescu says that only the company’s assets had a significant value compared with the transaction’s value, although several of them were being reclaimed by their former owners. “When talks started with Gedeon Richter, things moved unexpectedly quickly. There was a strong desire to finalise the deal: from Celesio to sell and from the Hungarian group to buy. Both parties were surprisingly flexible (…),” explained Mihai Radulescu.