STADA and Grunenthal agree lower price for certain branded products

German drugmakers STADA Arzneimittel (SAZ: GR) and family-owned Grunenthal have agreed on the purchase of a branded product portfolio including the associated sales structures, also for the EU markets in Central Europe (including Poland).

STADA had originally withdrawn from this acquisition of the branded product portfolio in Central Europe (including Poland, etc), after the responsible anti-trust authorities had not approved the agreed transaction prior to the expiry of the contractually agreed so-called “long stop date” (as of December 31, 2011; The Pharma Letter January 4).

Last week, however, it was possible to successfully conclude subsequent negotiations with the seller. The purchase price for the branded product portfolio including sales structures and various pipeline products for Central Europe now amounts to a total of around160 million euros ($210 million) and is thus some 48 million euros below the originally planned purchase price for this product package of about 208 million euros. Payment of the purchase price will be made at the time of completion of the acquisition, which is scheduled for January 31, 2012, now that all responsible anti-trust authorities have approved the agreed transaction. In such a case the branded product portfolio for Central Europe will be consolidated in the STADA Group as of February 1, 2012.