Invita AG, an investment company that focuses on the pharmaceutical sector, is to merge its portfolio companies Amareg, Haupt Pharma and Wülfing Pharma as of September 1, 2008. The merger of these pharmaceutical contract manufacturers and developers will result in the most efficient company in its sector in Europe with around 1,500 employees and a turnover of €180 million.
The consolidation signifies an important step towards sustainable growth. In the medium term the new group has the potential to become one of the major players in the world market of pharmaceutical contract manufacturers. However, the merger will not only increase the growth rate, but will also help to secure jobs at the companies involved due to its improved market position. The aim is that by focusing on their own performance, all of the individual companies will contribute to the successful expansion of the overall group, which in future will operate under the internationally established brand of Haupt Pharma – with the Gronau firm of Wülfing Pharma using the name “Haupt Pharma Wülfing” and the Regensburg company Amareg being called “Haupt Pharma Amareg”.
After the merger Haupt Pharma will have an even broader range of manufacturing technologies for its cus-tomers, with the result that Haupt Pharma will be able to expand the range of services in the fields of galenic and analytical development, clinical sample production and marketing authorisations, thereby strengthening its good competitive position. In the pharmaceutical industry the awarding of contracts to independent providers of special services for the development and production of drugs is becoming in-creasingly important: in order to limit the complexity of cooperations, customers are very interested in re-ducing the number of their service providers and by awarding all-inclusive contracts they will easier monitor their portfolio.
The investment company Invita AG was recently created from the splitting up of the firm MVB Beteiligungen AG. It concentrates its investment activities exclusively on the pharmaceutical sector, in par-ticular the field of pharmaceutical services. In this context it intends to acquire all of the outstanding shares in Haupt Pharma, Amareg and Wülfing Pharma. As soon as the company is the sole shareholder, Invita AG intends to consolidate the above companies.
The shareholders of Amareg and Wülfing Pharma see the merger as securing the long-term success of the companies. “This decision represents a win-win situation for everyone involved,” according to Dr. Andreas Landau, Chief Executive Officer of Wülfing Pharma. “In future we will be able to play a more active role in Europe – a promising opportunity for all of our locations.”
“We see new perspectives as a result of the merger,” says Rolf H. Kusebauch, Amareg’s Chief Executive Officer. “The companies involved complement one another excellently. Valuable synergies will be created and due to the possibility of accessing additional technologies we can offer our customers a much more diverse range of services in future.”
This is confirmed by Hans-Christian Semmler, Chairman of Haupt Pharma: “The merger will not only promote the overall growth of the Haupt Pharma Group – the improved market position will also signifi-cantly strengthen the individual locations.” Currently the companies serve different customers for the most part. In the future the opportunity will arise that a broader range of services can be offered to the customers by the group – especially if new customers are acquired.
Haupt Pharma is striving to improve its market position not only in Europe, but above all in the USA and Japan. Hans-Christian Semmler adds: “Initially we will make every effort to further expand our position on the European market. Our aim is to be among the top three in the long term. But in the future we also want to play a significant role in Japan and the USA.”