Recipharm announced the €90m, five-year loan agreement with Swedbank AB earlier this week, explaining that the funds would be used to bolster the next phase of its programme of strategic acquisitions, citing ‘niche CDMOs’ among its targets.
CEO Thomas Eldered said: “Our programme of strategic acquisitions and investment in current facilities has always been geared towards increasing and expanding the services that we tailor to each specific client. We look forward to continuing in this vein.”
The firm did not provide details of potential takeover targets or specify in which areas of contract manufacturing it will invest, however, its decision last year to sell its stake in Cobra Biologics suggests it will not buying into the biopharmaceuticals sector.
One area of potential investment may by Asia, based on what Eldred told Outsourcing-pharma.com at CPhI in Germany last December. He suggested that strong growth markets like India and China may be an interesting area for Recipharm.
“I think these are markets that are very interesting to look into for the future…not so much for bringing products back to Europe but rather to explore the potential in these markets and participate in the growth.
“So that is a very important part of our future strategy and we are currently evaluating a handful of very specific opportunities that we have in these countries.”
Manufacturing to meet demand
Recipharm did not specify in which areas it will add manufacturing capacity other than that a proportion of the loan will be spent on “enhancing existing and new customer relationships.”
This strategy of expanding to meet demand fits with plan Recipharm unveiled earlier this year when it said it will install new tableting technology at its plant in Arsta, Stockholm to service an expansion of its contract with ViroPharma.