This is the end of an industrial saga that has seen many twists and turns. The Servier laboratory, owner of the generic manufacturer Biogaran, announced on Friday, September 6, that it was giving up for the moment on selling its subsidiary, considering that the offers submitted did not fully meet the criteria set by the group.
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The announcement was made to Biogaran employees on Friday morning. For several months, they had been worried about the future of the pharmaceutical laboratory, which has 240 employees and on which several thousand jobs also depend through its network of subcontractors. “We have received several expressions of interest. However, these did not meet all of our criteria for creating value for the company, employees, but also for industrial players and patients. Hence our decision to end the discussions.”they say at Servier.
Several candidates, including the Indian pharmaceutical laboratories Aurobindo and Torrent, but also the British investment fund BC Partners, and the Lyon industrialist Benta, had launched, in recent months, into the race to buy the number one generics company in France, which sells nearly 320 million boxes of medicines in France each year.
Strong reactions
According to a source close to the case, several of the offers submitted have reached “more than 1 billion euros”The possibility of a sale of the French group to a foreign player had, however, provoked strong reactions, with some fearing a loss of national sovereignty in the event of the relocation of production.
The four candidates had notably been received at Bercy in the office of the resigning Minister Delegate Roland Lescure, shortly before the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly, in order to discuss the “red lines” that the government planned to impose in the event of a takeover. On Friday, the minister welcomed Servier’s announcement, hailing a decision “very wise”. On the side of Biogaran’s subcontractors, there is also relief: “We didn’t expect this. It’s very good news.”confides one of them.
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The laboratory’s decision to stop discussions is also partly explained, according to Servier, by “political and regulatory uncertainties”. The lack of visibility on the 2025 Social Security financing bill, which must notably decide on the directions to be given on the safeguard clause, would have weighed on the sale project. This specific contribution to the pharmaceutical sector, which allows the State to control drug spending, and the amount of which has exploded in recent years, is indeed scrutinized with great attention by the laboratories.
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