Unions move to block sale of CF Cefarm

2011-09-20



Trade unions at CF Cefarm, the last drug distributor remaining in state hands, have written to the Treasury, Economy, and Health Ministries and to the President’s Office expressing concern at what they described as “mounting doubts” over the sale of the company earlier this month to PCZ, the listed healthcare group, Rzeczpospolita has learnt.
According to union officials at CF Cefarm, the company may have been sold below its fair value (its real property may have been undervalued), and the buyer’s ability to finance the deal even at the agreed level has not been verified, which raises suspicions of a hostile takeover and puts a question mark over the future of the company.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but it is understood to be in the region of PLN 30m (€6.9m). It is still subject to anti-trust clearance. PCZ also has until 23 September 2011 to sign a social package with unions.
Earlier this year trade unions blocked the sale of CF Cefarm to Netmedia, a listed e-commerce group, over its failure to announce early enough that it had entered into a consortium with Farmacol.
PCZ, which in August made its debut on NewConnect, at present derives the bulk of its revenues from medical care, but has the ambition to create a diversified healthcare group with drug wholesaling and retailing operations. The purchase of CF Cefarm would take it a long way towards achieving this goal, as the state drug distributor is a much bigger company. In 2009 (the latest year for which official data are available), CF Cefarm generated revenues of PLN 914m (€210m) and made a net profit of PLN 8.4m (€1.9m). At present it employs 350 people. Traditionally its focus was on pre-wholesale sales and imports, but it is also developing a proprietary pharmacy network. It supplies to wholesalers, pharmacies, hospitals, and is also engaged in export sales.