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German Celesio Shelves Russia’s Deal on Nationalization Fears
One of the biggest deals on Russia’s pharmaceutical market is under the threat of disruption. German Celesio has shelved acquisition of Protek on fears that the pharmaceutical business will be nationalized in the country. The analysts, however, view financial disagreement of parties as the actual reason.
In the middle of October, German Celesio declared the intention to buy out the better part of Protek business, including distributing, retail and production portions. The plans were to close the first stage of the deal in December and the analysts estimated the worth of control over Protek at $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
Yesterday, however, Celesio General Director Fritz Oesterle said via Dow Jones that they would hardly agree with Protek by this year-end. Celesio would decide on the further progress in partnership in the nearest weeks, as the political environment in Russia was very complicated, the official made clear.
According to Celesio PR Director Rainer Berghausen, a source close to the Kremlin told them that some businesses, pharmaceutics, for instance, could be declared strategic and nationalized. Celesio got particularly agitated after Welt Online released its “OOO Kremlin & Co.” article October 27. That article said that Sergei Chemezov managed Rosoboronexport as the former KGB mate of Vladimir Putin and that they wanted to nationalize economy. So, in Celesio, they were waiting for a clear signal of the government, Berghausen explained.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 14, 2007
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