A&D Pharma Pays EUR44M For London Shares

06.02.2011 By David Ioana

A&D Pharma, the biggest pharmaceutical group in Romania, paid EUR44 million for around 35% in the company, following a buy back offer made as part of its delisting from the London Stock Exchange.

The pharmaceutical group this year delisted from the London Stock Exchange, where its shares had been traded since the autumn of 2006, and made an offer of EUR4.5 per GDR (Global Depositary Receipts - the certificates traded in London, 1GDR equals six shares).

Thus, A&D Pharma founders, businessmen Walid Abboud, Roger Akoury, Ludovic Robert and Michel Eid, ended up holding around 97% in the group compared with 61% in the past.

"Most shares held by investors on the stock exchange were offered for purchase and bought back.

There are a few minority investors left in the wake of the delisting, but they account for less than 3%," said Robert Popescu, CEO of A&D Pharma.

The acquisition was financed through a loan contracted by the group and announced at the beginning of this year, worth EUR150 million, from a syndicate led by Erste, BCR and Unicredit Tiriac Bank.

Robert Popescu says decisions are simpler to make now, after the delisting, but he does not want to change the group's internal operating rules.

"The biggest difference is that we no longer have to seek approval from two or three law firms before making a decision. Decisions are simpler to make, but we don't want to destroy what we gained from the listing. We want to keep the processes as they were designed to operate," Popescu told Ziarul Financiar in an interview.