DURBAN-based pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare has not abandoned its bid to buy Australian company Sigma’s pharmaceutical business next year.
Aspen said yesterday it had reached a formal agreement with Sigma on the terms and conditions of the transaction and the ongoing relationship between the two companies.
"Subject to satisfaction of the conditions precedent, the transaction is scheduled to conclude on January 31 2011," Aspen said.
Aspen is one of SA’s few pharmaceutical companies. It is 19% owned by British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline.
It has made a revised offer to buy Sigma’s drug business for A900m (R6,230bn). Its previous offer was A648m, which Sigma’s shareholders rejected .
After the rejection, the deal was restructured to include an offer only for the pharmaceutical component of the company.
Last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission put the revised deal on hold, saying it was concerned about how some product lines in Australia would be affected if the deal went ahead.
Its main qualm was that the merged entity’s control of the injectable iron polymaltose drugs Ferrum H and Ferrosig would grant Aspen control over that market segment. The commission also said last month it hoped to conclude further inquiries by November 11 and to make a ruling by tomorrow.
The bid for Sigma’s business would also help Aspen distribute drugs to different markets from multiple manufacturing plants.
Aspen is a supplier of branded and generic pharmaceuticals in about 100 countries and of consumer and nutritional products in selected territories.
It already operates businesses in SA, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Ireland, Germany, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Hong Kong and Australia.
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