Akacia buy bolsters Ascendis Pharma
by Marc Hasenfuss
2015-11-20 05:54:51.0
THE strong shift in shares in healthcare group Ascendis Health over the past few weeks might be explained by the acquisitive company on Thursday renewing its deal-making prescription for its fast-growing pharmaceuticals division.
The company — controlled by private equity firm Coast2Coast — has proposed paying R345m for the pharmaceutical business of Akacia Healthcare. This is the third pharmaceutical acquisition by Ascendis in three months, following hard on the heels of it taking a 49% stake in Spanish drug maker Farmalider and buying 85 registered product dossiers from Sandoz.
Akacia manufactures and distributes branded generic prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines, with leading positions in several pharmaceutical market segments.
Ascendis CEO Karsten Wellner was confident Akacia — once incorporated into Ascendis Pharma — would become a "sizeable contributor" to earnings.
The product range includes probiotic brand Reuterina (which has a 30% share of the antidiarrhoeal market) as well as Sinucon and Sinuend (which sell strongly in the market for cold and flu medicines).
Dr Wellner said the Akacia acquisition, coupled with the Farmalider and Sandoz deals, would create significant scale for the Ascendis Pharma division.
One analyst, who asked not to be named in line with their company’s policy, said that although Akacia looked a fairly significant acquisition, Ascendis had shown a determination not to overpay for growth opportunities in previous deals.
The deal includes Akacia Pharma’s 23,000m² factory in Isando, valued at R100m.
Dr Wellner said the plant had significant spare capacity. "This will enable us to increase local production of existing pharmaceutical and complementary medicine ranges."
Ascendis CEO Karsten Wellner. Picture: TREVOR SAMSON
THE strong shift in shares in healthcare group Ascendis Health over the past few weeks might be explained by the acquisitive company on Thursday renewing its deal-making prescription for its fast-growing pharmaceuticals division.
The company — controlled by private equity firm Coast2Coast — has proposed paying R345m for the pharmaceutical business of Akacia Healthcare. This is the third pharmaceutical acquisition by Ascendis in three months, following hard on the heels of it taking a 49% stake in Spanish drug maker Farmalider and buying 85 registered product dossiers from Sandoz.
Akacia manufactures and distributes branded generic prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines, with leading positions in several pharmaceutical market segments.
Ascendis CEO Karsten Wellner was confident Akacia — once incorporated into Ascendis Pharma — would become a "sizeable contributor" to earnings.
The product range includes probiotic brand Reuterina (which has a 30% share of the antidiarrhoeal market) as well as Sinucon and Sinuend (which sell strongly in the market for cold and flu medicines).
Dr Wellner said the Akacia acquisition, coupled with the Farmalider and Sandoz deals, would create significant scale for the Ascendis Pharma division.
One analyst, who asked not to be named in line with their company’s policy, said that although Akacia looked a fairly significant acquisition, Ascendis had shown a determination not to overpay for growth opportunities in previous deals.
The deal includes Akacia Pharma’s 23,000m² factory in Isando, valued at R100m.
Dr Wellner said the plant had significant spare capacity. "This will enable us to increase local production of existing pharmaceutical and complementary medicine ranges."
