Novartis OTC business could interest Omega Pharma
As Novartis, the Switzerland-based multinational pharmaceutical company, would consider selling its over-the-counter (OTC) business. The business could interest its Belgian peer Omega Pharma, Belgian daily De Tijd wrote.
The unsourced report said Omega Pharma CEO Marc Coucke will probably study the dossier with much interest.
Marc Coucke said he does not comment on individual dossiers.
However, the size of the Novartis OTC business could be too much to handle for Omega Pharma as only its four top brands (out of 15) reported a turnover of EUR 970m last year where Omega Pharma acquired a portfolio of GSK with 54 brands for EUR 470m (2.1 times turnover).
It has been debated if Novartis would split up the OTC business and sell parts of it to Omega Pharma, the report added. The report also said that another question is if Omega Pharma can handle such a buy financially, as it already has debts of close to EUR 750m.
Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez told Reuters yesterday that non-strategic, subscale units such as OTC and animal health could be sold if it proves impossible to convert them into global businesses.
Source De Tijd