Stada acquired 15 OTC brands of GSK

Stada Arzneimittel AG has acquired 15 consumer healthcare products, including those specializing in vitamins, cold treatments, and sore throat medication, from GlaxoSmithKline at approximately $325 million. The brands – venous treatment Venoruton, Coldrex cold remedy, Cetebe vitamin C supplements, Mebucaine for sore throats and Tavegyl allergy relief, among others – are marketed in more than 40 countries including Germany, Russia, Poland and Spain.

Why this deal?

This acquisition will help STADA AG expands its global OTC business with portfolio of well-established local and regional consumer healthcare brands from GSK in countries predominantly in Europe including France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain and Switzerland. “As a broad-based European player with a strong presence in multiple markets, STADA is increasingly the Go-to-Partner in generics and consumer health. The brands being acquired, and their geographic presence, are well aligned with STADA’s core countries and our organic activities”, comments STADA CEO Peter Goldschmidt.  “This will enable us to drive additional growth alongside our strong growth in the generics business. Under our ownership, we believe there is an excellent opportunity to revitalize and grow these consumer healthcare brands”, Goldschmidt adds. From a geographic perspective, sales of the GSK Consumer Healthcare portfolio being acquired by STADA are distributed broadly, with Germany, Russia, Poland and Spain each accounting for more than a tenth of portfolio turnover. Also among the top 10 countries by portfolio sales are France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Serbia and Switzerland, further enhancing STADA’s position as a truly pan-European consumer healthcare player.

The proposed transaction comes after STADA’s acquisition from GSK last year of five OTC skincare brands – Ceridal, Eurax, Oilatum, Polytar and Savlon – as well as Tixylix pediatric cough remedies in Europe and selected markets in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions. So, new brand acquisitions will be strategic fits to Stada’s objective.

On the other hand, in December 2018, Pfizer and GSK partnered to create a global healthcare company by combining the consumer healthcare business of each. The two companies indicated it created the world’s largest over-the-counter business. It holds the number one over-the-counter position in the U.S. and the second position in China, the two largest OTC markets in the world.

About Stada Arzneimittel AG

Stada Arzneimittel AG is a pharmaceutical company based in Bad Vilbel, Germany which specializes in the production of generic and over-the-counter drugs. In 2018, revenue totaled €2.33 billion. Read more about Stada Arzneimittel AG

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