Enterprise Investors Sells PharmaSwiss Stake to Canadian Company

Poland’s Enterprise Investors has agreed to a deal involving the sale of its entire stake in PharmaSwiss to Canadian pharmaceutical company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. Enterprise Investors will get € 52.5 million for its share; the remainder of the PharmaSwiss shareholders will also sell, giving Valeant 100% ownership at a total cost estimated to be near € 350 million.

Enterprise Investors originally invested in PharmaSwiss with a capital increase in 2008 via its Polish Enterprise Fund VI.

PharmaSwiss (www.pharmaswiss.com)
PharmaSwiss is a Swiss pharmaceutical company with operations in 19 different Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Greece and Israel. The company develops and produces pharmaceuticals targeted at seven specific areas of therapy, and offers regulatory, compliance, and other business expertise in partnership with other biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

The company employs more than 750 individuals and earned 2010 sales revenues of nearly €200 million. PharmaSwiss world headquarters are located in Zug, Switzerland.

Enterprise Investors (www.ei.com.pl)
Enterprise Investors was established in 1990 after the implementation of the U.S. government-funded Polish-American Enterprise Fund, an investment vehicle designed to provide equity funding for the Polish private sector. The firm has invested in excess of €1.3 billion in more than 100 projects in the last 20 years, while raising more than seven funds worth a combined total of €1.7 billion.

Enterprise Investors invests mainly in private, medium-sized business with an average horizon of three to seven years. Portfolio companies receive EI support in strategic planning, financial decision-making, and professional recruitment. EI prefers to stay away from day-to-day operations. While Polish investments are EI’s top priority, the firm looks at other potential projects that will help expand its reach in Central and Eastern Europe.