HONG KONG (Reuters) – Drugmaker Mundipharma International Ltd,owned by the billionaire American Sackler household, has kicked off the selling of its China unit in a deal that could fetch over $1 billion, people knowledgeable about the situation told Reuters.
Mundipharma has invited a select group of possible buyers, such as private equity companies and local and global pharmaceutical firms, to bid for the advantage, stated the people.
First bids are expected by the end of May, said among these.
Mundipharma hired Deutsche Bank a year ago to research a sale of itself and a few individual companies. It chose to conduct a standalone sale procedure because of its China business before this season, the people said.
Mundipharma didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The folks declined to be named because the info is confidential.
According to Cambridge, United Kingdom, Mundipharma has a presence in 120 nations. It had $2 billion in global sales from medication for pain control and supportive care, diabetes, oncology and respiratory ailments, amongst others, its site (www.mundipharma.com) revealed.
Mundipharma established its China company in 1993 using a high-profile signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.
It stated on the site it’s over 1,500 workers in China and its own Beijing mill is the largest manufacturer of narcotic and psychoactive drugs in the nation. Painkiller OxyContin is among those Chinese unit’s center solutions.
The strategy to market Mundipharma China comes because the Sacklers have provided a $4.3 billion payoff for another of the drug businesses, Purdue Pharma LP, to solve sprawling opioid litigations from the USA.
Purdue, which also makes OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy in September 2019 at the face of almost 3,000 lawsuits accusing the firm of fuelling the federal opioid emergency through deceptive advertising. It registered its bankruptcy plan in March.
The Sacklers had suggested to utilize at least $1.5 billion in a sale of Mundipharma for its Purdue settlement. (here)
Reporting from Kane Wu at Hong Kong; Additional coverage by Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
