Alvogen does not give up on acquiring Bosnalijek

The pharmaceutical company “Alvogen”, based in the United States, will not give up on the previously announced acquisition of a majority stake in Sarajevo’s “Bosnalijek”, from which it plans to create its regional center, announced “Alvogen” director Robert Wessman.

In a paid advertisement by "Alvogen", published on Monday by daily newspapers in BiH, it states that the company is conducting final negotiations for the purchase of shares with the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is also the largest shareholder of "Bosnalijek"."The formal sale of government shares is expected soon, and ‘Alvogen’ has expressed interest and is financing the entire transaction with its own funds", the statement reads. Robert Wessman, known to the Croatian public as the former CEO of Actavis Group, which planned to acquire Pliva, stated that "Alvogen" intends to make "Bosnalijek" a "center of excellence" for Central and Eastern Europe. The Government of the Federation of BiH holds a 19 percent ownership stake in "Bosnalijek", while 9 percent of the shares are owned by the IFC, an investment fund within the World Bank. Bosnalijek is actually a joint-stock company predominantly owned by small shareholders, with the majority of employed workers and investment funds controlling 63.5 percent of the shares. The Libyan Fund for Economic and Social Development holds 8.8 percent of the shares.

In April of this year, after several months of negotiations with "Alvogen", the federal government decided to offer its shares in "Bosnalijek" for sale on the stock exchange, and part of the agreement was also supposed to include the sale of the IFC’s share package. The entire arrangement ultimately failed because "Alvogen" did not offer the expected price for the government shares. In May, the government offered its package of about one and a half million shares at a price of 22.03 convertible marks per share, planning to receive 33 million KM from it, but the expected offer from "Alvogen" was absent. According to data from the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE), the current price of "Bosnalijek" shares is 14.79 convertible marks (about seven euros). According to available data, "Bosnalijek" achieved revenue of about 107 million KM in 2009, which is a record for the company in the post-war years. In addition to the region, the company has expanded its operations to Russia and Libya. (H)