Alexei Repik squints his eyes at the Takeda plant
Negotiations on its acquisition are conducted by R-Pharm.
The largest Russian drug manufacturer R-Pharm is negotiating the purchase of the Japanese Takeda plant in Yaroslavl. This was told by two sources close to both companies. According to them, despite the fact that binding documents have not yet been signed, the parties have reached agreements in principle and are now discussing the value of the asset. How much Takeda wants to get for the asset, they did not specify. A representative of R-Pharma said that the company could not comment on the deals until they were closed. Refused to comment and in the Russian office of Takeda.
One of the interlocutors of Vedomosti clarifies that Takeda wants to sell the company, including due to sanctions restrictions. But, despite this, the company does not plan to leave Russia, he adds.
The plant itself was launched back in 2013, its capacity is 90 million ampoules and more than 3 billion tablets per year. It produces drugs prescribed for oncological, gastroenterological, neurological and rare diseases.
R-Pharm was founded by businessman Alexei Repik in 2001. Until the fall of 2022, he was the main owner of the company, but eventually transferred a share to management (the other 10% remained with the Japanese Mitsui), Vademecum reported. R-Pharm produces drugs for the treatment of autoimmune, oncological, antiviral and other diseases, as well as materials that are used in medicine and veterinary medicine. Its factories are located in Yaroslavl, Rostov, Moscow, Kostroma and Dubna, as well as in Azerbaijan and Germany. The company’s revenue in 2022 amounted to 162 billion rubles.
R-pharm is indeed one of the most obvious candidates for the Takeda plant, as it already has two facilities in Yaroslavl, says Sergey Shulyak, CEO of DSM Group. He also adds that talks about the sale of the enterprise to a Japanese company began three years ago, long before the start of a special military operation. Probably, Takeda’s decision to withdraw from the asset is due to the fact that the drugs produced at its plant are mainly sold through the public procurement system, but by the time it was launched, this niche was firmly occupied by domestic players, the expert specified. In particular, according to the results of the first quarter of 2023, the leaders in the public procurement segment are the Russian Irvin 2 with a share of 9.6%, R-pharm – 7.9%, Pharmimex – 7.5%, BSS – 6 .2%, Protek – 3.4%, according to DSM Group.
The production capacity of the Japanese plant can now cost about 10 billion rubles, Mikhail Burmistrov, general director of Infoline-analytics, calculated. According to him, taking into account the requirements that apply to international companies when selling a business, the actual amount of the transaction should be about 5 billion rubles. Nevertheless, the final price will depend on whether the brands of the Japanese company will enter the perimeter of the transaction, Burmistrov specifies. He admits that the company will continue contract manufacturing of Takeda’s main foreign drugs.
The asset itself is attractive for a future buyer, since in addition to the established production and finished dosage forms, the plant has a favorable location, Shulyak notes. According to him, there are many specialized universities in Yaroslavl that train pharmaceutical technologists and other specialists of a similar profile. R-pharm, which is considered one of the largest players in the hospital procurement market, thanks to the purchase of the Takeda plant, will be able to increase its capacity and, consequently, its share in this segment, explains Pavel, managing partner of the Control Systems Design consulting company specializing in the pharmaceutical market Lisovsky.
However, one of the sources who worked with Takeda assures that R-Pharm is not the only contender for the asset. According to him, he is considering the possibility of acquiring a plant of a Japanese company in Yaroslavl and Viktor Kharitonin’s Pharmstandard, however, negotiations with it are at a less advanced stage. The representative of Pharmstandard and the businessman himself did not answer questions.