Eurofarma purchases lab in Uruguay and plans more acquisitions
Valor Econômico
The national pharmaceutical Eurofarma has acquired the control of the laboratory Gautier, headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, with strong presence in the local market, and took another step towards its internationalization plan. Nearly a year after purchasing Argentine Quesada, the company already starts negotiating assets in Mexico, Chile and Colombia and it plans on building a plant ("greenfield") in Venezuela. All that is part of the strategy to cover 90% of the Latin-American market.
The company has not disclosed the value of the deal, but it informed it is within the amount of R$ 170 million (US$ 94.4 million) it intends to invest in Brazil this year. The transaction involved the purchase of 90% of the shares of the Uruguayan laboratory. "We have the option of buying the other 10% in the next two years", told Maria del Pilar Muñoz, Sustainability and New Business Officer of the company to Valor. With the acquisition of Gautier, Eurofarma enters the markets of Bolivia and Paraguay, where the Uruguayan company has strong presence. Eurofarma has already begun prospecting business for possible acquisitions in Mexico, Colombia and Chile, considered important for the progress of the company in Latin America, and it is studying to begin a unit in Venezuela, but such investment is still being evaluated. The company intends to be in those markets by 2015.
If the expansion strategy of the company abroad Brazil has gone through acquisitions, in the country the plans are to invest in the organic growth. The family-managed company is concluding a R$ 450 million (US$ 250 million) investment to expand its industrial complex of Itapevi, in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. Another front involves the acquisition of branded products and partnerships, such as that under negotiation with Pfizer. The plant of Campo Belo, in the capital of São Paulo, currently with injectable products, should be transferred to Itapevi. With R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 609.1 million) in earnings in 2009, the company projects a 17% higher income this year, reaching R$ 1.4 billion (US$ 777.8 million).
The group has also strengthened its businesses in research. According to the executive, the company has the development of two radical innovation molecules in its "pipeline". One is the resveratrol, in partnership with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS), for development of a medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and degenerative neurological diseases; the other, aleurites moluccana, in partnership with the University of Vale do Itajaí (Univali), for a herbal medicine with anti-inflammatory and analgesic action.