One in, one out: Esteve pivots to specialty products
Esteve, a Spanish pharmaceutical company, has marked the shift into the new year with two deals that reshape its offerings.
Firstly, Esteve sold its generics division, Pensa Investments, to Towa Pharmaceuticals for €320m ($356m), in a deal that will complete by the end of this month. Yesterday, the company followed this move with the acquisition of Riemser, a proprietary specialty products company, for an undisclosed sum.
The business decisions follow Esteve’s stated plan of focusing its business on proprietary products and areas of specialized medicine.
Esteve’s CEO, Staffan Schüberg, explained in a statement that the divestment of Pensa would allow Esteve to focus on its core business, as well as to ‘speed up’ the transition into a specialized pharma business.
Towa Pharmaceuticals will acquire a pellet preparation manufacturing facility in Spain as part of the deal, in addition to subsidiary companies based in Europe and the US.
The deal to bring Riemser, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, into Esteve’s network, in turn, will see it add a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Germany and a presence in the UK, France, and Spain.
Riemser holds a portfolio of products within oncology, cardiovascular diseases, dermatology, and chronic pain, amongst other areas. According to Esteve, 60% of Riemser’s sales are generated through proprietary products, falling inline with its overall business strategy.
Esteve noted that the deal is expected to be completed within the first quarter of 2020. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
