PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Berlin  -  The sale of the generics manufacturer Ratiopharm by the Merckle group is a done deed. The shareholding company VEM confirmed a report of regional German newspaper: In order to re-structure the finance situation of the group of companies, the Merckle family and the banks agreed to sell Ratiopharm.

The selling process is supposed to be controlled by a trustee that will be designated by the banks and VEM and the Ratiopharm management. The operative daily business will be continued by the existing management.

The negotiations of VEM are supposed to have come to a positive result: The bank consortium allowed the necessary bridging credit. So, the company could avert its liquidity crisis. “We are very happy that we found a solution”, VEM CEO Ludwig Merckle said.

“The operative business of Ratiopharm and of the other shareholding companies is basically well”, Merckle stated. “The companies had a successful business year 2008 and the perspectives for the next year are good as well.”

However, the agreement with the banks includes, that Ludwig Merckle will not continue his management work for VEM.

Already some weeks before the suicide of the industrialist Adolf Merckle on Monday evening, there had been speculations about selling Ratiopharm. The development of the Ulm based pharmaceutical manufacturer is one of the most important achievements of the dead entrepreneur.

Related topics: Adolf Merckle commits suicide
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PHARMA ADHOC, Wed, January 07, 2009 03:51pm CET