Tromsø, Norway and Falkenhagen, Germany, July 4, 2008 - PROBIO ASA announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GELKAPS GmbH, a German-based manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. PROBIO is a public company established in 2000 with headquarters in Tromsö, Norway. PROBIO has three production plants and turnover in 2007 of Euro 14 million. PROBIO has acquired all the outstanding shares of GELKAPS from a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. for an undisclosed price. The transaction has been approved by both parties and remains subject to certain conditions.
GELKAPS manufactures and markets pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products in various dosages and strengths to branding companies throughout Europe. The facility in Falkenhagen has a pharmaceutical cGMP license (current Good Manufacturing Practice, European Pharmacopeia). GELKAPS is a well established company, having celebrated its 15th year of operations in 2007.
The takeover, subject to closing, will provide PROBIO with a strong market presence and sales network in Europe. The companies are considered to be complementary and Probio management wishes to build on this to create a stronger, more competitive joint entity. The competitiveness will be further strengthened through sharing of best-practices throughout the combined organization. PROBIO will move to the top level of the encapsulation business in Europe following this acquisition. Both GELKAPS and PROBIO have experienced rapid growth the last few years and together they will serve over 200 branding companies across Europe with exports to more than 15 countries.
Commenting on today's announcement, Per Benjaminsen, PROBIOs Chief Executive Officer, said: "This is an important step for us because the combination of PROBIO and GELKAPS will provide us with a platform to capture a leading position in the European market for consumer ready pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticalst. PROBIO is pleased to have GELKAPS strong management and work force, complementing our existing management team, to support our growth strategy and our vision of consumer demand for high end omega-3 prophylactics."
Following the closing, the German based company will become an important element in PROBIOs strategy to establish a new category of high end human dietary supplements, named Profyceuticals . PROBIO envision that consumers will increasingly crave more legitimate, authentic and quality assured products with near pharmaceutical level documentation on biological effect, also for nutraceuticals. Consumers more and more will want to know that the effects of supplement products are scientifically documented says Per Benjaminsen. He further stated "We now create, with the acquisition of GELKAPS, a platform to bring high quality omega-3 formulations to the European market and also to launch our new product concept for children, elderly and others we have developed over the last four years. The strengths of GELKAPS and PROBIO combined will make us a leader in the industry
GELKAPS will strengthen PROBIO as a Total Solutions Provider
After this transaction PROBIO will have four modern production facilities in three countries and will have pharmaceutical and nutraceutical capabilities in soft gel encapsulations, powders, liquid and tablet dosage forms. In total PROBIO has, after including GELKAPS, more than 300 employees in Norway, Germany, Finland and Russia.
The plants in Båtsfjord, Andenes (both Norway), Seinäjoki (Finland) and Falkenhagen (Germany) will, following the closing, cater for customers as a single organization led by Ralf-Dieter Blesel, the current Managing Director of GELKAPS. Mr. Blesel, who has many years of senior managerial experience as Managing Director for companies like Azupharma gmbh (currently Sandoz AG), Anton Hübner AG and Bayer AG, will take over as the head of PROBIOs core business area Pharma & Supplements. These plants will have combined annual volume of more than 4.0 billion daily dosages, with a plan to increase to 8 billion daily dosages within 2012 and then every day contribute to good health to 20 million consumers in Europe.
Per Benjaminsen remarked, "This acquisition will create a Pan European player taking a high-road in the highly fragmented industry. We are excited about the prospects of building a very large company in the next few years and accelerating growth. Consumers are looking for documented, but also new and novel solutions to cope with ageing and health related issues. PROBIO and GELKAPS will together have the capability and innovative strength to meet the needs of these consumers."
"PROBIO is becoming one of the strongest integrated omega-3 companies in Europe, and has been a leader in the Omega-3 industry on the continent for more than 5 years. Benjaminsen added, GELKAPS has a good reputation in the market and its customer service is excellent. They have a lot of business inmore advanced formulations as well as complicated emulsions and suspensions, and not only do they have the GMP license, but also BIO, IFS and BRC licenses. The latter, the British Retail Consortium license is notoriously difficult to obtain, showing the strength of the quality department in GELKAPS."