UPDATE:Abbott Laboratories Not Bidding For Solvay Tricor Operations
15 Juillet 2009 - 5:03PM
Dow Jones News
U.S. pharmaceuticals company Abbott Laboratories (ABT) said
Wednesday it isn't interested in Belgium's Solvay SA's (SOLB.BT)
Tricor business, one of its best-selling drugs in which the two
companies have a partnership, denying earlier press reports.
"We have no interest in expanding our participation in the
fenofibrate market, which was implied in the article," Chief
Financial Officer Thomas Freyman told analysts on a conference
call, referring to a Financial Times article reporting an Abbott
interest in Solvay's Tricor. "We already have a strong presence
there and an adequate investment," he said.
The newspaper reported Wednesday that Solvay has narrowed the
list of bidders for its pharma unit to private-equity owned Swiss
company Nycomed and Abbott, which would be only bidding for
Tricor.
Solvay launched a review of options for its pharma business
April. It has hired Morgan Stanley (MS), Citigroup (C) and
Rothschild to advise on a possible sale, people familiar with the
situation said.
Solvay and Abbott sell fenofibrate, which aims to cut
cholesterol levels, under the brand name Tricor.
With patents expiring on their blockbuster drugs, many big
pharmaceutical companies are keen to snap up smaller competitors,
to secure new products, analysts said.
-By Marietta Cauchi and Alessandro Torello, Dow Jones Newswires;
+44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
(Alessandro Torello reported from Brussels. Peter Loftus from
Philadelphia contributed to this story.)