Co-owner of "Magnit" wants to sell pharmaceutical plants to Sistema

Yevtushenkov Corporation continues to create a drug giant.
06.06.2019
Vedomosti
Origin source
Vladimir Evtushenkov’s AFK Sistema is negotiating the purchase of pharmaceutical assets from the Marathon Group, Alexander Vinokurov, told a partner of one of the parties and two people who know about this from potential participants in the transaction. Speech about the purchase of two enterprises - Kurgan “Sintez” and Stavropol “Biocom”, clarified two interlocutors. What packages of shares are they talking about and what is their possible price, they do not know.

The parties can sign the agreement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (starting June 6), all Vedomosti interlocutors say.

The representative of Sistema said only that AFK is considering various options for expanding the pharmaceutical business. Marathon Group did not respond to the request. The representative of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said that all documents submitted to the FAS can be found on its website; there it was not possible to find the relevant petitions "Vedomosti".

Vinokurov - former president of the Summa Group and the investment division of Alfa Group, A1. In 2017, together with Sergey Zakharov, he created the Marathon Group on the basis of his pharmaceutical assets - the manufacturers of drugs Synthesis and Biocom, skin antiseptics Bentus Laboratories (30%, Sanitelle brand) and pharmacy operator Mega Farm ( “A-mega”, “Yes, healthy!” and “Alphabet of Life” networks), pharmaceutical distributor “SIA International” (later sold to retailer “Magnit”, where Marathon Group has 11.8%). The group also owns the manufacturer of vaccines "Fort" and a share in the largest franchisee network KFC.

"Synthesis" and "Biocom" - the pearls in the pharmaceutical portfolio of the Marathon Group, recalls the CEO of DSM Group Sergey Shulyak. The first, according to its own data, is among the ten largest drug manufacturing plants in Russia with a market share of about 3%. The company manufactures over a third of the drugs from its own substances, including antibiotics. The company's revenue in 2018 - 8.6 billion rubles., Net profit - 910 million rubles. According to the list of affiliated persons of Sintez on March 31, 2019, the Marathon Group companies had 51.6% of Sintez shares, another 42% of shares belong to Rostec subsidiary, Natsimbio (its representative declined to comment).

"Biocom", where the group owns 75%, specializes in the production of original antibacterial generic drugs (the so-called MMN generics). The company's revenue in 2017 - 811 million rubles., Net profit - 107 million rubles. (data "SPARK-Interfax").

Shuliak estimates the cost of both companies at 15–16 billion rubles. without debt due to the growing portfolio of "Synthesis". In pharmaceutical companies, the main value is not production assets, but the product portfolio and cash flow, points out the deputy general director of Stada CIS, Ivan Glushkov. Both Synthesis and Biocom mainly produce products of the middle and lower price segments and are largely focused on public procurement, he continues, so their cost depends fundamentally on whether the government promises to co-finance the costs of drugs that prescribed on an outpatient basis (outside hospitals). If it does, the lower price segment will significantly increase and both assets of the Marathon Group may cost 30 billion rubles, according to conservative estimates, and if not, 10 billion rubles. will be "a very positive assessment," summarizes Glushkov.

Last year, Sistema strengthens its presence in the pharmaceutical market. At the end of 2018, the corporation, together with VTB, bought the pharmaceutical manufacturer OBL Pharm: they, together with the management of OBL Pharm, 95%. Sistema paid for 13% of the company 1.83 billion rubles. and pledged to buy out a share of VTB for three years. In April, the partners signed a binding agreement with a consortium of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Russian-Chinese Investment Fund and Middle Eastern funds on their entry into the capital of OBL Pharm. After closing the deal (planned for Q2), the consortium will have 28% in the pharmaceutical company, VTB - 46%, and Sistema - 13%.
Prior to this, the industry was represented in the Sistema portfolio only by the biopharmaceutical Binnopharm, which also produces hepatitis B vaccine. After purchasing the OBL Pharm, President of Sistema Andrei Dubovskov said it was “unique opportunity” to create one of the leaders the growing market for pharmaceuticals ”by combining it with Binnopharm. AFK plans to complete the creation of the merged company, which will be called Alium, in 2019.

The acquisition of Synthesis and Biocom, if it takes place, is in keeping with Sistema’s pharmaceutical business development strategy, Shuliak believes. At the same time, the corporation’s market share will have to be increased solely by regaining it from competitors, he notes. According to DSM Group estimates, in the next five years, the Russian pharmaceutical market will grow to a maximum of 5% per year; in 2018 it reached 1.68 trillion rubles. (+ 2.6%), including 451 billion rubles. government procurement.
 

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