Sindan invests but also considers acquisitions

Laurentiu Scheusan, country manager of Sindan, says that the Icelandic group Actavis, the owner of the Romanian pharmaceuticals producer, could invest 57 million euros in a cytostatic drugs factory in Romania.
“There is, in principle, an approval by the Actavis board to invest in a new cytostatic drug factory and the budget approved is 57 million euros. A final decision will be made at the end of September,” said Laurentiu Scheusan.
Actavis has been very active in terms of acquisitions on the pharmaceutical market lately, and is in talks, along with another competitor, Barr Laboratories, to take over Croat drug maker Pliva.
Both Actavis and Barr sent their final bids for Pliva last week. The Croatian legislation allows one month for further bidding and negotiations with bidders once the final bids have been submitted. A decision will be made towards the middle of September.
“Depending on this, the board of Actavis will decide towards the end of September the time when to start construction of a new drug factory. Of course, the top priority is to build it in Romania because we have oncology expertise, we are joining the EU and therefore can be seen as a springboard for expansion and distribution of oncology products everywhere in the world. The relatively small costs of products in Romania compared with the other EU states cannot be overlooked, either,” Scheusan said.
He has been Sindan’s country manager since April, after having been the company’s marketing and sales manager. Actavis bought Sindan in a 147.5 million-euro deal this spring.
“The sale process of Sindan began in December 2005,” Scheusan specified.
The players interested in buying the Romanian drugmaker included both strategic and financial investors, with three pharmaceutical companies and four investment funds competing to the end.
There are two Sindan entities operating on the Romanian market at the moment: Sindan Distributie (distribution of pharmaceuticals) and Sindan Pharma (production operations). Actavis opened a representative office in Romania before taking over Sindan. The management could bring all the companies together into one, depending on the legislation, with Sindan-Actavis rebranding planned to take place until the end of the year.
“Actavis continues its acquisition policy. As country manager, my duty is to notify them of any opportunity that may arise on the market.” Scheusan stated.