UniCredit Bank buys 8.8% of Pharmstandard on behalf of drug maker's director
MOSCOW. Sept 23 (Interfax) - UniCredit Bank Austria AG has acquired 8.8% of Pharmstandard on behalf of and at the expense of Bristley Enterprises Limited, a company owned by a member of the Russian drug maker's board of directors, Alexander Shuster.
The bank's purchase of the shares is part of a deal in which Shuster's company is acquiring 18.74% of Pharmstandard, the drug maker said in a statement.
Pharmstandard told Interfax that UniCredit Bank Austria acted as a broker for Bristley in the acquisition of local shares.
The bank, which previously owned 0.005% of Pharmstandard, increased its stake to 8.816% on September 5.
It was reported earlier that Pharmstandard purchased Singapore-based Bever Pharmaceutical from Bristley in a deal that valued Bever at $590 million. Pharmstandard was supposed to pay $542 million with quasi-treasury stock held by Pharmstandard-Leksredstva (18.74%) and another $48 million in cash. All of the transactions are to be completed before the end of 2013.
Bever, formed in May this year, signed a 20-year contract with Swiss company Stragen Chemical SA on June 25 aimed at selling substances used by Pharmstandard to produce Arbidol and Aphobazolum in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). These substances are produced at facilities owned by Italy's Erregierre S.p.A.
Pharmstandard reckons that by acquiring Bever it will realize $60 million in savings a year on the substances it purchases. That effect will begin to be felt before the end of the year. Bever will be included in the company Pharmstandard is forming to produce branded over-the-counter pharmaceutical products.
Shuster, who has been a member of the Pharmstandard board since 2011, is one of the founders of a number of companies that Pharmstandard has acquired, including CJSC Lekko Pharmaceuticals, CJSC Vindexpharm (which owned rights to the Atsipol trademark), CJSC Masterlek (which owned the Arbidol, Amixin and Flucostat brands) and Afopharm.
A controlling 54.31% stake in Pharmstandard is owned by Augment Investments Ltd, the beneficiaries of which are Viktor Khariton and Yegor Kulkov. Another 17.64% circulates on the LSE and 9.31% on the Moscow Exchange.
