Valeant Pharmaceuticals to purchase Sanitas
Deal includes €314m in cash and €50m of Sanitas debt
Canada’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy AB Sanitas, based in Lithuania, for approximately €314m in cash, to expand its branded generics portfolio. The transaction also includes €50m of Sanitas debt.
The major shareholders of Sanitas have agreed to sell Valeant 87.2% of the outstanding shares of Sanitas.
Valeant, based in Mississauga, Ontario, said it would commence a mandatory tender offer to acquire the remaining interest in Sanitas after buying the controlling block of shares.
Sanitas, a publicly-traded specialist pharmaceuticals company based in Kaunas, has a branded generics portfolio consisting of 390 products in nine countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe, primarily in Poland, Russia and Lithuania.
The company has in-house development capabilities in dermatology, ophthalmology and hospital injectables and a pipeline of internally developed and acquired dossiers.
Sanitas expects sales in 2011 to be more than €100m, with an approximate revenue growth rate in the low double digits over the coming years.
The purchase of the controlling interest should close in the third quarter and the mandatory tender offer in the fourth quarter of 2011.
‘The acquisition of Sanitas should provide Valeant with an opportunity to expand our European branded generics product portfolio with dermatology and hospital injectable compounds that have a strong track record of growth and profitability,’ said Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive of Valeant.
‘With 80% of the Sanitas portfolio consisting of non-reimbursed products with limited exposure to government pricing pressures, Valeant will be in a key position to continue our expansion into Central and Eastern Europe.’
