Valeant to buy Egyptian drugmaker Amoun for $800 mn

Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc yesterday struck a deal to buy privately held Egyptian drugmaker Amoun Pharmaceutical, for about $800 million.

The deal, which also includes additional contingent payments, is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 1998, Amoun is the largest pharmaceutical company in Egypt and currently expects to reach Egyption £1.75 billion by 2015, with annual growth of approximately 20 per cent.

Amoun was acquired by the private-equity arms of Capital Group, Concord International Investments and New York-based Rohatyn Group in 2006 for about $450 million.

Amoun operates a large, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant that is considered to be one of the largest pharmaceutical facilities in Africa and the Middle East. It has market leading pharmaceutical brands in therapeutic areas such as anti-hypertensives, broad spectrum antibiotics and anti-diarrheals.   

Valeant intends for Amoun to serve as a platform for further expansion in the broader Middle East and North Africa pharmaceutical market.

Valeant, Canada's biggest drug maker, had early this year said that it would target acquisitions in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America and that it also wanted to build up its US dental business and its dermatology, surgical and ophthalmology lines.

"We believe that oncology has similar characteristics to our current therapeutic portfolios ... We have not previously found an economic way to enter this market," Valeant CEO Michael Pearson had said.

Valeant has a product portfolio of about 490 products, and has two drugs in the top 200 drugs by sales in the US. Its main markets are in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe and Australia.

The Ontario-based company has made over 60 acquisitions since 2008. Its latest deal was made in March when it offered to buy North Carolina-based prescription pharmaceutical products and medical devices maker Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd for $11 billion.