November 1 (SeeNews) - Zentiva Romania [BSE:SCD] said on Monday its majority shareholder Sanofi has decided to sell its Romanian generic drug plant as part of a major divesting plan of its EU generic drugs business.
"As announced in our 2020 strategic roadmap, Sanofi has carefully reviewed all options and has decided to initiate a carve-out process in order to divest its Generic business in Europe. Sanofi will be looking for a potential acquirer that will leverage the mid and long-term sustainable growth opportunities for this business," Zentiva board chairman Emmanuelle Valentin said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
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"Sanofi confirms its commitment to its Generic business in other parts of the world and will further focus on the Emerging Markets in order to develop its business in those countries," the official added.
The net profit of Zentiva's Romanian unit rose 80% to 32.3 million lei ($7.8 million/ 7.1 million euro) in the first half of 2016, while turnover was up 9% to 194 million lei.
Zentiva was trading down 2.5% to 1.95 lei on the BVB by 1231 CET.
The Romanian factory Sicomed was built in 1962 as a state owned drug producer and listed on the BVB in 1998. At the end of 2005, Zentiva acquired 75% of Sicomed.
Czech Republic based Zentiva N.V. is an international pharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and marketing modern generic pharmaceutical products. In 2009 it became the generic drug arm of French drug maker Sanofi.
(1 euro = 4.5056 Romanian lei)