September 7 (SeeNews) - A consortium of Britain's Frontier Pharma Limited and Russian LLC NPA Petrovax Pharm could become the only remaining bidder in the tender for the purchase of a 25% state-owned stake in Serbia's drug maker Galenika, with India's Cadila Pharmaceutical expected to shortly withdraw its bid, Belgrade-based media reported.
After the exit of Brazil's biggest pharmaceutical firm EMS SA from the competition over procedural issues, the same is expected to happen to the Indian company, news daily Blic reported on Tuesday quoting sources.
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In August, Serbia's economy ministry said that the three bidders in the Galenika tender have made the necessary amendments to meet all the conditions after certain technical flaws were identified in all three bids.
The ministry noted at the time that the tender committee would analyse the bids and hand over a ranking list to the government for approval.
According to Blic, the bids are yet to be ranked, but if the Indian company pulls out, only one bidder will be left in the running.
Media earlier reported that the British-Russian consortium had offered 7 million euro ($7.9 million) for 25% of Galenika, which is the minimum amount requested by the state.
The consortium is also ready to invest some 30 to 40 million euro in the drug maker, and plan to halve the employee count to 700 people.
($=0.8889 euro)