The merger will create a third large pharmaceutical distributor, with NIS 1 billion in sales a year and 550 employees.
New Antitrust Authority director general Ronit Kan has approved her first merger. The Antitrust Authority has approved the merger of NeoPharm Medical Supplies Ltd. and Promedico Ltd. The merger is expected to create a third large company in the domestic pharmaceutical marketing and distribution sector, thereby increasing competition. Until now, the domestic market was dominated by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq:TEVA; TASE:TEVA) and Perrigo (Agis Industries) (Nasdaq:PRGO; TASE:PRGO).
The NeoPharm-Promedico merger, consolidating two of the largest pharmaceutical and medical equipment distributors in Israel, is almost complete. NeoPharm is owned by the Fuhrer and Sarel families; Promedico is owned by Benjamin and Michael Jesselson. The merged company is expected to reach NIS 1 billion in sales a year, and employ 550 persons. No lay-offs will be made in the first stage, but it is believed that the merged company will make personnel changes later.
Because of the expected scale of activity, the Antitrust Authority asked the Ministry of Health for its position on the merger. The ministry studied various aspects of the merger, and approved it unreservedly.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 14, 2005
Shai Shalev, Hadas Magen, and Hadas Manor