President of the investment department of "Alfa Group", A1 company, Alexander Vinokurov, is buying the remaining share of the pharma business from the heirs of the founder of the distributor of drugs "SIA International", Igor Rudinsky. Under the deal, Vinokorov will receive 50% of the shares of "SIA International Ltd", 34% of ordinary shares and 31% of preferred shares of the Sintez Plant in Kurgan, and 75% of the Biocom Plant shares, according to a joint statement of the parties. As a result, Vinokorov will become an indirect owner of 100% shares of "SIA International", 51.6% of the votes of Sintez, and 75% of the shares of Biocom, as follows from the message and documents of the companies. Also after the transaction the businessman will get full control over the Mega Farm pharmacy retailer (about 200 pharmacies at the end of 2016): currently, 25% of the company are owned by "SIA International".

With regard to Sintez and Biocom, the transaction must be approved by the regulators, the report says. The purchase application of the above companies to the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has not been yet filed, its representative told Vedomosti. The representative of Rostec, which subsidiary, the National immunobiological company, has 42% shares of Sintez, didn't reply to the request. According to the Kurgan company's charter, the shareholders are entitled to dispose of their shares without consent of other shareholders.

The parties declined to disclose the details of the transaction. "My daughters and me are happy with the terms of the transaction. We are not professional investors and businessmen, so the sale of the remaining stake for us is a logical step," Rudinsky's widow, Elena, is quoted as saying. She merely clarified: the deal was cash. SIA International has no public data, its value is directly related to future cash flows, which depend on the results of a new management team, says the deputy director of Strada CIS Ivan Glushkov. According to him, the cost of business of "SIA International" is up to $1 billion, and so, the amount of the transaction can be estimated at approximately $500 million.

Rudinskiy founded "SIA International" in 1993: its initial working capital, according to its own data, totaled $14 000 with the portfolio of 20 drugs and 12 employees. The heyday of SIA happened after the 1998 crisis thanks to the speed of decision-making, recalled two years ago the CEO of DSM Group Sergey Shulyak. In 2007, SIA became the first in turnover in the ranking of the largest pharmaceutical distributors, compiled by DSM Group. A year later, as reported then by Kommersant, Rudinskiy agreed to sell the 50% minus 1 share of the IAM for $800 million to American TPC Capital, which was headed by Vinokurov; however, due to the crisis, the deal did not take place: the businessman did not agree to the proposed discount. In the fall of 2014, Rudinskiy died after a long illness. However, as it turned out later, during his lifetime, he began negotiations with the major Russian manufacturer and distributor of  medicines, SC "R-Pharm" owned by Alexey Repik, for the sale of the controlling package of SIA. But the deal never happened as Repik and Rudinsky's heirs didn't find common language. 

According to Ms. Rudinsky, the family has planned to sell the remaning share since when Vinokurov became a shareholder of SIA in December 2015 when the company was not in the best condition: it had debts to the banks; According to "SPARK-Interfax", in 2015 SIA had 3 billion rubles of loss against 144 million rubles of profit a year earlier, while its revenue fell by 40% to 59.4 billion rubles.

With the arrival of Vinokourov, SIA agreed to restructure the debt by only 7.2 billion rubles with all creditor banks: Promsvyazbank, Globex, Gazprombank and Russian capital. At the end of 2016 the credit portfolio of the pharmaceutical distributor fell by more than 1 billion rubles, the company also settled disputes with major suppliers: Teva, R-Pharm, Akrikhin, worth more than 1.8 billion rubles. In December 2016 the distributor attracted funding from VTB for 5.4 billion rubles. "When it became clear that Sasha and his new team do an excellent job, the company came to life, began to develop rapidly; I had no doubts and decided to complete our plans," explained Ms. Rudinsky to Vedoosti. In DSM Group's ranking for 2015, SIA International ranked 5 th among the largest distributors of medicines in Russia with a share of 9%. Previously, the company's CEO Sergey Piven announced plans to enter the top 3 distributors in the near future. SIA International has the potential for growth and good name: at the end of 2016 the company diversified the business, but it is the development of the distribution segment will be able to bring it to the leaders of the market, says CEO of DSM Group Sergey Shuljak.

Pharmaceutical business is of strategic value for Vinokurov, he intends to develop it, said the representative of the businessman.