Glaxo Takes 19 Percent Stake In Aspen

From Associated Press (December 1, 2009)

LONDON--Pharmaceuticals maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Tuesday it has bought a 19 percent stake in South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, part of an effort to diversify its business to compete with generic copies of its drugs.

The asset-swap deal gives Aspen, South Africa’s largest generic drug maker, the right to distribute Glaxo drugs in that country. London-based Glaxo also transferred eight medicines and a factory in Germany to Johannesburg-based Aspen.

Glaxo had originally said it intended to take a 16 percent holding in the company, but said Tuesday it had acquired 81.7 million shares, giving it a larger stake.

Glaxo’s president of emerging markets, Abbas Hussein, will take a non-executive director seat on Aspen’s board from Dec. 7.

Sales of Glaxo’s pharmaceutical products in South Africa last year totaled around 45 million pounds ($68.8 million) last year, while combined sales of the other eight products it is divesting to Aspen reached 56 million pounds.

Glaxo, the world’s second largest drug maker by revenues, has made a series of shuffles to its asset portfolio in recent weeks as it attempts to deal with heightened generic competition, particularly in the United States.

That has led the company to move toward selling its own branded generic drugs in emerging and existing markets to break its traditional reliance on blockbuster medicines in Western countries.

Last month, it announced it was buying American dermatology business Stiefel Laboratories Inc. in a $2.9 billion deal. It also sold commercial rights to antidepressant Wellbutrin XL in the United States to Canadian drug developer Biovail Corp. for $510 million.

Glaxo’s shares were up 0.9 percent at 1,268.5 pence in London morning trade. In Johannesburg, shares in Aspen rose 2.2 percent to 69.49 South African rand, after hitting a record high of 69.59 after the announcement.
 

Pharma Industry News Archive

More News Resources

• Daily MedNews
• Pharma Industry News
• New Drug Applications
• New Drug Approvals
• Clinical Trial Results
• Generic Drug Approvals
• Monthly Update Archive