Greek "Alapis" interested in "Galenika"

- Group "Alapis" from Greece, which owns Čačak-based wholesale drugstore "Šumadijalek", is interested in participation in the tender for takeover of company "Galenika" - said Janis Georgakopoulos, the Director General of "Šumadijalek".

- That is one of the ways in which we could expand our production base in Southeastern Europe and improve export to other countries - said Georgakopulos.

According to his words, group "Alapis", which manufactures and distributes drugs, is present in Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, and its aim is to "gradually cover all countries in southeast Europe".

As Georgakopulos explained, year 2008 was successful for "Alapis" group and, according to the consolidated reports of the group, its turnover reached the amount of 1.136 billion EUR, 157% more than in 2007, while the business profit amounted to 277m EUR, 137% more than one year before.

- Our investment in Serbia, through consolidation and development "Šumadijalek", now enters a more dynamic phase. The procedure for registration of the series of generic drugs of "Alapis", which are manufactured in Greece, is underway - said he.

Georgakopulos said that company Šumadijalek from Čačak had been owned by company "Alapis" for 14 months, and he said that the situation in that company before the new management had taken it over had been "hopeless".

People in "Alapis" say that they have successfully fulfilled the investment plan for "Šumadijalek", within the scope of which a new warehouse at 1,000 square meters was bought in Nova Pazova, the motor pool has been refurbished and enlarged, and a new information system has been introduced.

New owners claim that the company does not dismiss the workers (65 of them at the moment), but hires new ones, so that their number will be increased by 25 to 30 once the logistic center in Nova Pazova becomes "fully operational".

Georgakopoulos estimated that there was "good space" for development of drugs market in Serbia, from all points of view - production, distribution, retail trade.

- My opinion is that the production has great prospects for development of its capacities to satisfy the needs of the market because the number of players in the market is still small - said he.