U.S. Valeant gives up on Galenika acquisition

The U.S. company Valeant today sent a notice to the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Serbia saying that it gives up on the privatization of Galenika because of, among other things, hostile attitude that the trade union and staff have taken toward potential privatization.

According to the notice addressed to Minister Mladjan Dinkic, the Valeant company has decided not to submit a letter of intent.

Among the main reasons that Valeant cited for giving up on this acquisition is a recently published agreement on the takeover of the Bauch&Lomb company by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International as well as a publicly expressed hostile attitude of the trade union and employees of Galenika toward potential privatization, it was announced on the website of the ministry.

The government passed a decision on 21 December 2012 to give the green light for the launch of a procedure for finding a strategic partner for Galenika, in line with which the Ministry of Finance and Economy issued a public invitation to interested investors on January 15th to submit their letters of intent.

On May 31st the Ministry of Finance and Economy extended the deadline to submit letters of intent until June 14th. That was the fourth extension of that deadline.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals is a member of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International from Canada, a multinational corporation that specializes in the pharmaceutical industry, has 7,500 employees, and generated a total sales revenue of about USD 3.3 billion in 2013.