The Iceland-based healthcare investor, Aztiq, founded by Alvogen’s Chairman and CEO, Róbert Wessman, and Innobic Asia, a wholly-owned Life Science arm of PTT Public Company Limited, Thailand’s largest publicly traded conglomerate, have signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% stake in Alvogen Emerging Market Holdings Limited (AEMH) from Alvogen Lux Holdings Sarl (Alvogen).
Key shareholders in Alvogen include CVC Capital Partners (CVC) and Temasek Holdings of Singapore (Temasek), as well as Aztiq. The total transaction value is estimated to be approximately US$475 million, and the deal is expected to close during the first quarter 2022.
With this transaction the consortium becomes the leading shareholder in the global oncology pharmaceutical company Lotus Pharmaceuticals (Lotus), and the owner of 100% shares in Alvogen Malta (Out-Licensing) Holding Ltd., shareholder of the fast-growing global business to business (B2B) pharmaceutical company Adalvo.
Alvogen Lux Holdings Sarl will remain a leading shareholder in the generics pharmaceutical company Alvogen US, including specialty pharma company Almatica, as well as being the second largest shareholder in global biosimilar company Alvotech.
Róbert Wessman, Chairman and CEO of Alvogen and Founder of Aztiq, will continue to serve as Chairman of the board of Lotus and Adalvo.
Wessman said: “I am very proud to have witnessed the maturation of both Lotus and Adalvo. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the existing shareholders for their great support in transformation and at the same time I would like to welcome our new partner as we look forward to carrying out the essential work of expanding access to medicines with strong expertise collectively by all parties.
“With the comprehensive geographic networks and solid market intelligence in ASEAN brought by PTT and Innobic, I believe that Lotus and Adalvo will have a compelling competitive advantage, which enables them to become global leaders in the pharma industry.”
Tomas Ekman, Director of the Board, Alvogen Lux Holding Sarl, said: “After seven years as the lead shareholder of Lotus and the broader Asian business, Alvogen concluded that now is the right time to monetize our investment and letting Aztiq and Innobic continue the journey Lotus is on.
“Both Adalvo and Lotus will continue to collaborate closely with the Alvogen group of companies. Today’s announcement is consistent with Alvogen’s strategic focus and we intend to deploy the proceeds from the transaction in line with our capital allocation priorities to maximize shareholder value.”
Dr. Buranin Rattanasombat, Senior Executive Vice President, Innovation and New Ventures, PTT and Chairman of Innobic (Asia), said: “This partnership will accelerate our goal and enable Innobic to leap into being a fully integrated pharmaceutical company. By being the major shareholder in Lotus jointly with Aztiq, Innobic will have access to the capability of operating a full suite of pharmaceutical business, ranging from research, development, and formulation to production and commercialization, with a primary focus on generic drugs covering a wide range of therapeutic areas, in particular, oncology and central nervous system. The strengthened access to high quality medicines, together with the global networks and commercialization capability of Adalvo, and Innobic’s support to further expand the pharmaceutical businesses in the ASEAN and globally, make this investment fully in line with the goals and strategies for realizing life science business in Thailand and the ASEAN.”
Alvogen acquired a majority stake in Lotus in 2014 and together with its shareholders, Lotus has evolved into a next generation pharmaceuticals company focused on global oncology with direct market access in more than 10 countries in Asia and global reach of its portfolio to over 130 markets.
Alvogen has further developed Adalvo in 2018 from an in-house B2B platform into a separate business unit focusing on global markets. In a short period of time, Adalvo has achieved a remarkable growth with over 500 transactions and a world class portfolio of 60 differentiated medicines and is currently one of the fastest growing B2B pharmaceutical companies globally, serving its partners and patients in over 100 markets around the world.
In April of 2021, Innobic invested approximately US$50 million into Lotus by acquiring newly-issued shares via a private placement. Both parties, Lotus and Innobic, are committed to further collaboration with the aim of expanding access to high quality medicines. Further participation by Innobic, through its investment in AEMH, demonstrates both a strong belief in the Lotus strategy as well as a commitment to drive opportunities in South East Asian pharmaceutical markets including Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries.
