July 28 (SeeNews) - The tender for the sale of 25% stake in indebted Serbian state-controlled drug maker Galenika has attracted three bids - from India's Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Brazil's biggest pharmaceutical firm EMS S.A., and a consortium of Britain's Frontier Pharma Limited and Russian LLC NPA Petrovax Pharm, the country's economy ministry said.
The bids will be opened on Friday, the ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday.
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The bids will be ranked according to the number of jobs proposed and the plans for recapitalisation of the company as the two most important criteria, the statement reads.
The government will then announce the best bidder and it will have up to 90 days to negotiate a final deal with it.
Earlier this week, local media reported that the Serbian government, which controls 70% of Galenika, has prepared a plan B in case that its efforts to find a strategic partner for the company fail. The plan envisages a write-off of Galenika's debts towards state-owned companies, amounting to some 130 million euro, and rescheduling of another 70 million euro of debts owed to banks for five to seven years, Blic daily reported, quoting sources.
Galenika is one of the remaining 17 state-owned Serbian companies bound to be privatised or liquidated as part of commitments which the country has undertaken under a 1.2 billion euro stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).