CSL plans to buy pharmaceutical company Vifor for $ 12 billion

Vifor logo

The Swiss pharmaceutical company could pass into Australian ownership.

(Photo: Reuters)

Zurich The Swiss pharmaceutical company Vifor confirmed takeover negotiations with the Australian pharmaceutical company CSL on Monday. A final decision as to whether the St. Gallen-based company will be sold to Australia is still pending.

According to a report in The Australian newspaper, CSL could pay the equivalent of up to twelve billion dollars for Vifor. The company is currently worth nearly ten billion dollars on the stock exchange. The shares of Vifor were meanwhile more than 20 percent in the plus on Monday.

The sales rumors first emerged in early December. A large Vifor shareholder has now stated that he would support an offer of CHF 160 per share or more. The share certificate is currently quoted at 143 francs.

This marks the next billion dollar deal in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry: At the end of October, Novartis had already put its generic subsidiary Sandoz up for sale.

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Vifor specializes in drugs for dialysis and heart patients, for diet-related iron deficiency, for kidney problems and increased potassium levels, which are used, for example, in patients with anemia. CSL has two major businesses, one of which is the treatment of rare and serious diseases, such as low protein levels in the blood. In addition, CSL is active in the production of vaccines under license.

Vifor suffered a drop in sales in the corona crisis because many hospitals performed fewer regular operations. The share price has been under severe pressure since the outbreak of the pandemic. In addition, the company’s most important product, an intravenously administered iron preparation, is about to expire.

The Swiss company has also recently attracted attention with personnel quarrels. The pharmaceutical manager Stefan Schulze had to leave again in August this year after only one and a half years as CEO. Two other top managers left in October, and the CFO also left at the end of November.

Abbas Hussain is currently the head of Vifor, previously the manager sat on the CSL supervisory board, among other things. Financial investor Martin Ebner, an influential major shareholder in Vifor, had campaigned publicly for Hussain.

Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider suspects that this could have been an important factor in CSL’s entry into Vifor. Otherwise he sees few synergies between the two companies. Among other things, Vifor is one of the leading providers of therapies for people with cardiovascular diseases. The CSL product pipeline hardly overlaps.

Another great value of Vifor is the joint venture with the German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Medical Care. According to Vontobel analyst Schneider, the future of the joint venture is uncertain if there is a change of ownership.

More: Major Biontech shareholders are considering a billion-dollar deal in the pharmaceutical sector with a financial investor

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