Abbott to acquire Russia’s Veropharm for up to $495 million

US drugmaker Abbott (NYSE: ABT) yesterday confirmed it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Veropharm (VRPH: RU), a leading Russian pharmaceutical manufacturer, as previously reported.

Under the terms of the deal, Abbott will acquire Garden Hills, the holding company that currently owns a controlling interest in Veropharm, for between 13.6 billion roubles ($395 million) and 17 billion roubles (or a range of about $395 million to $495 million) depending on Garden Hills' share ownership of Veropharm at the time of close. Garden Hills currently owns more than 80% of Veropharm but is expected to own over 95% by the time the transaction closes. Under the agreement, Abbott will also assume net debt of 4.7 billion roubles.

This is the second acquisition for Abbott in a matter of weeks, the US company having agreed to  buy the Chilean generic pharmaceutical firm CFR Pharmaceuticals for about $2.9 billion plus the assumption of about $430 million of debt.