Germany's Stada Pharma buys 6 of GSK's consumer brands to boost presence

Private equity-backed generic drugmaker Stada said on Friday it would buy six consumer healthcare products from British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to bolster its presence in Europe.
 

The price tag for the mainly Europe-focused brand portfolio, which include itch relief cream Eurax, antiseptic cream Savlon and Tixylix cough liquids, was in the high double digit million pound range, according to a person close to the deal.
 

Stada declined to comment on the price.
 

GSK is streamlining its product offering as it prepares to fold its consumer business. into a joint venture with Pfizer by the second half of this year, creating a market leader that will primarily look to the United States and China for growth.
 

Stada CEO Peter Goldschmidt said the company, which will fold the brands into its British Thornton & Ross unit, would bring to bear its knowledge of complex European healthcare markets that some global players are lacking, also with a view to future deals or alliances.
 

"We have a strong presence in almost all the European countries, there are not many companies where that is the case.
 

For companies in, say, the United States, India or China that are looking for a European partner we are the go-to partner, the CEO told Reuters.
 

The German company, majority owned by buyout firms Bain and Cinven since 2017, reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of just over 500 million euros last year on sales of 2.3 billion euros.