Fresenius ProServe has sold the company in a further step to focus its attention on the hospital and healthcare business, and its aspirations to participate in the privatisation of the hospital market.
Neither company are disclosing financial details regarding the acquisition, which is effective as of 1 January 2007. The companies will however have to wait for anti-trust approval from the relevant authorities before the deal can be finally implemented; this is expected no sooner than March 2007.
Pharmatec, a subsidiary of Pharmaplan that manufactures pure steam, pure water and sterilisation equipment, is not included in the transaction and will be divested by Fresenius at a later date.
Pharmaplan provides consulting, engineering and qualification/validation services for the pharmaceutical industry, supplementing NNE's business with delivery of turnkey facilities and key pharmaceutical processes. NNE contributes to the partnership with expertise in biotechnology, cleanroom and automation.
Operating under the name NNE Pharmaplan, the company will be headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, but will also maintain Pharmaplan's current site near Frankfurt, Germany, as an additional European hub.
"From here we plan to expand our business into central Europe, which will become an increasingly important market for pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies in the course of the coming years," says NNE president, Hans Ole Voigt.
The new combined company is estimated to achieve a turnover of over €200m, extrapolating from NNE's 2005 turnover of €163m and Pharmaplan's €49m.
NNE has over 70 clients, the largest being its parent company Novo Nordisk who account for around 50 per cent of the company's sales, with other customers including AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The company was also responsible for constructing the world's largest insulin plant for Novo Nordisk in Kalundborg, Denmark.
Fresenius ProServe will now concentrate on its core hospital management and hospital engineering services, through its HELIOS Kliniken and VAMED businesses.