Pharmaceuticals: Ivax acquires Recordati shares in Polfa Kutno

2004-06-07

The US-based pharmaceutical giant the Ivax Corporation has acquired, indirectly from Recordati Industria Chemica e Farmaceutica, the Milan-based, listed Italian pharmaceutical concern, 469,149 shares in Polfa Kutno, a pharmaceutical company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. These shares represent almost 25% of the total share capital of Polfa Kutno. Ivax acquired a wholly owned subsidiary of Recordati which held Polfa Kutno shares in exchange for shares of Ivax common stock at a price of PLN 340 (€71) per Polfa Kutno share. Ivax, through the subsidiary, has now become the single largest shareholder in Polfa Kutno. The American company has already received approval from the Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (KPWiG) to acquire more than 50% of the voting power of Polfa Kutno stock, and permission from the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to acquire control of Polfa Kutno. Ivax has also announced that it intends to acquire the remaining shares in the Kutno-based drug producer. A call for 100% of Polfa's stock is expected to be made in mid-June. As we learn from Puls Biznesu, Ivax is currently holding talks with the representatives of financial investors (Commercial Union, ING, the PZU Group, and the Pioneer fund), who together control about 50% of Polfa's capital, and who have agreed to decide between them about the sale of the shares they possess. The price suggested by Ivax is PLN 330-340 (€69-71) per share, while financial investors expect to get as much as PLN 360-380 (€75-79.5).