June 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian drug distributor Sopharma Trading [BUL:SO5] said on Thursday it intends to acquire a majority stake in Serbian drug wholesaler Lekovit.
Lekovit’s current owner – Dragan Petkovic - will keep a minority stake in the company and will continue to act as the company's CEO, Sopharma Trading said in a bourse filing.
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The deal is subject to approval by Serbia’s competition authority.
Sopharma Trading is a unit of Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma [BUL:3JR].
In May 2016 Sopharma announced that it had sold its 51% stake in two Serbian plants co-owned by local company Ivancic i Sinovi (Ivancic&Sons). The company will continue to operate in Serbia through its other subsidiary in the country, Sopharma Trading Belgrade, it added at the time.
In March Sopharma Trading said it would seek its shareholders' approval to take out two loans worth a total of 40 million levs ($22.8 million/20.45 million euro) to finance acquisitions in Bulgaria and Serbia.
Sopharma Trading shares closed 0.49% lower at 8.16 levs ($4.66/4.17 euro) on the Sofia bourse on Thursday.
Lekovit is active in the supply of pharmacies and other healthcare institutions with pharmaceutical products. The company has around a hundred employees and works with some 900 pharmacies across Serbia, data from its website shows.
The Serbian drug wholesaler operates two warehouses with a total footprint of 3,000 sq m. In 2013 it opened a representation office in Leskovac, in southern Serbia.
The company's capital stands at just 70,252 dinars ($643/577 euro) and is fully-owned by Dragan Petrovic, according to data from the country's trade registry.
In 2013, Lekovit booked a profit of 132,097 dinars and revenues of 2.7 million dinars, according to the latest available data. Its assets totalled 1 million dinars at the end of 2013.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)