Dive Brief:
- Last year, Valeant acquired Amoun Pharmaceuticals for $800 million via purchase of Mercury Holdings. Now, however, Valeant is considering selling it in order to pay down debt.
- The goal of the acquisition was to provide Valeant with a way to gain more market access in the Middle East and Africa.
- The broader goal for Valeant is to sell non-core assets in order to reduce its debt burden, which is roughly $31 billion. It is considering sale of some of its Latin American companies, as well as others around the world.
Dive Insight:
Amidst a maelstrom of price-gouging investigations, federal probes, irate investors, settlement deals (most recently related to Salix-related kickbacks), flagging sales and high-profile settlements, Valeant has been battening down the hatches. One way it's doing that is divesting companies that are not essential to the bottom line.
Amoun Pharmaceuticals is the largest pharma company in Egypt. It specializes in both human and veterinary medicine, with a focus on antibiotics and other anti-infectives, as well as drugs from a core primary care portfolio, focused on hypertension and other common conditions.
In terms of the sale itself, there is the possibility that Amoun's current executives may buy back the company from Valeant via a management buyout. Regardless, Valeant needs to sell. It has down-forecast its revenue estimates for the year from a range of $5.6 billion to $5.8 billion, to a range of $4.8 billion to $4.95 billion.