In another step to slim down its product line, Takeda Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: TAK) announced another portfolio divestment. Orifarm Group A/S, an ambitious operator in the European pharmaceutical market, has purchased Takeda’s portfolio of select non-core over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceutical products sold in Europe, and two manufacturing sites located in Denmark and Poland for $575 million.
The portfolio includes a variety of OTC products and select prescription products in the respiratory, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular and endocrinology therapeutic areas sold predominantly in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Baltics and Austria. The portfolio generated FY 2018 net sales of approximately $230 million.
Back in March, Takeda sold a portfolio of select non-core products exclusively in Latin America, including over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceutical products sold in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru to Brazil’s largest pharmaceutical company, Hypera S.A., for $825 million. Takeda will use the extra income to deleverage its balance sheet following its purchase of Shire plc in 2018 for $81.5 billion.
As we’ve written before, Takeda has completed a number of sales over the past year, according to our Deal Search Online database, contributing to its goal to divest roughly $10 billion in non-core assets. In May 2019, it sold TachoSil® to Ethicon, part of Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE: JNJ) Medical Device division for $400 million. In July 2019, it sold its dry-eye drug, Xiidra®, to Novartis (NYSE: NVS) for $3.4 billion.
In October 2019, Takeda sold non-core assets to Acino for more than $200 million in countries spanning the Near East, Middle East and Africa, and then sold a portfolio of non-core assets in Russia, Georgia and a number of Commonwealth of Independent States countries to STADA for $660 million in November 2019.
These sales from Takeda have been one of the few sources of major pharmaceutical deals for the year. In Q1:20, as Big Pharma shifted its attention to finding a COVID-19 vaccine, M&A volume in the sector dropped 29% compared with Q4:19 and 21% compared with Q1:19. More information on healthcare M&A can be found in our upcoming Health Care M&A Quarterly Report, so keep an eye out for that.
