Novartis transfers Slovenia's Lek capital to Sandoz

Novartis entered into a binding agreement to transfer all of Lek's 1,933,176 shares with voting rights to Sandoz on July 27 and the transaction was completed on the same day, Lek said in a filing with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Friday.

The transfer of the shares is part of the global process for the spin-off of Sandoz from Novartis. In Slovenia, Sandoz now covers generic and similar biological drugs, while Novartis is active in the field of innovative drugs.

Last month, Novartis completed the transfer of assets related to the development and production of innovative drugs worth 691.6 million euro ($759.4 million) of Lek to its other local unit, Novartis Slovenia.

Sandoz will be represented in Slovenia by joint-stock companies Lek and Sandoz, while Novartis will be active in the country via Novartis Slovenia and Novartis Pharma Services.

Novartis announced the Sandoz spin-off last year. The Swiss group aims to focus on hematology, oncology, immunology, neuroscience and cardiovascular treatments, while Sandoz will retain the generics and biosimilars division.

($ = 0.91069 euro)