The general manager of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Roberto Musneci, says that its distribution activity is not at the forefront of the company, but no decision to sell it has been made, either.
GSK sold its pharmacies at the end of last year to A&D Pharma and rumours emerged on the market regarding a possible sale of its distribution activity.
No decision has been made so far as to the sale of the drug distribution arm of the British GlaxoSmithKline group, Europharm Distributie, says Roberto Musneci, a GSK regional manager for Southern and Eastern Europe.
The British company leads the Romanian pharmaceutical market, with sales worth 162 million dollars (around 130m euros) in 2005, 15% higher than in 2004.
"We launched an evaluation process in the case of Europharm Distributie with foreign experts, but not investment banks. All decisions referring to a possible sale of the company will be made at the centre of the group and not in Bucharest," Musneci also said.
Information on the pharmaceutical market has recently suggested that A&D Pharma, comprising the Mediplus drug distributor and Sensiblu pharmacy chain, has supposedly acquired Europharm Distributie from GSK.
A&D Pharma has denied these suggestions.
"We are not aware of GSK''s intention of selling its distribution unit. What I can assure you is that we are permanently on the look-out for any opportunity emerging on the market, given that A&D Pharma''s targets for 2006 focus on the strengthening of its leading position, both for the distribution company and for the retail arm," Dragos Dinu, A&D Pharma executive chairman, told ZF.
Europharm Distributie logged total sales worth 143 million dollars (116.5 million euros) last year, with Romania being the only market in the world where GSK also carries out distribution activities. Europharm, a company operating in the domains of drug distribution, retail and production, was integrated into GSK three years ago.
"The vertical integration model is typical for East European countries. All in all, the core activity is marketing, while distribution is a purely logistic activity," Musneci also said. A&D Pharma group was involved in a deal with GSK, buying the Europharm pharmacy chain owned by the British giant. The deal had a complex structure, and the value of the stake was put at about 10 million euros by market sources. GSK transferred Europharm to A&D last December. alexandru.cerchez@zf.ro
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