VEM agrees to sell Ratiopharm; large number of interested parties

The VEM VV GmbH, an investment arm owned by Germany's Merckle family, who's former head Adolf Merckle committed suicide early last year, says it has achieved an agreement for a bridge loan with creditor banks. In return to the banks' credit approval VEM had to agree to the sale of global number four generic drugmaker Ratiopharm, which generated total sales of 1.7 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in 2008. This will be executed by a trustee and the banks - together with the management of Ratiopharm Group. The selling process will most likely last several months.

Hans-Joachim Ziems, managing director of VEM, who is handling the sales process along with trustee Martin Stockhausen, issued a statement saying that 'the high number of interested parties in such an early stage highlights the attractiveness of the Ratiopharm group'. The sale is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2010 because of the 'complexity' of the deal and the 'high number' of potential buyers, VEM said.

The sale is expected to raise around 3 billion euros, with generic companies such as Teva, Mylan and Novartis' Sandoz unit - as well as others that have stated interest in growing in the generics market, such as US behemoth Pfizer, UK giant GlaxoSmithKline and French major Sanofi-Aventis.