Wockhardt sells German arm to Mova Pharma

18 June 2009

Quick on the heels of a setback to divest its hospital chain to Apollo Hospitals, troubled Indian drugmaker, Wockhardt Ltd, which has debt of Rs3,400 crore as on 31 December 2008, has succeeded in selling its German unit Esparma to Mova Pharma, the company announced yesterday.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, the country's largest hospital chain, dropped its plans this week to acquire Wockhardt Hospitals due to differences over valuation. (See: Apollo Hospitals dumps plan to acquire Wockhardt assets).

Wockhardt has not disclosed the size of the Esparma deal, which is expected to be in the range of Rs120 to Rs125 crore.

Mova GmbH, is a subsidiary of Lindopharm GmbH.

Wockhardt had acquired the Esparma business in May 2004 around Rs49 crore.

''Wockhardt continues to be on the growth track and this initiative is the first step towards its on-going strategy to re-structure, rationalise and optimise all of its businesses and raise fresh capital by divesting some of its smaller operations and non-core businesses,'' the company said