Altana shareholders approve pharmaceutical business sale

At an extraordinary general meeting in Frankfurt this week, shareholders of Altana have approved the sale of its pharmaceutical business, Altana Pharma, to Nycomed.

The company attributed the reason for the divestment to changes in the basic environment of the pharmaceutical industry, including rising costs for research and development, stricter guidelines from regulatory authorities, increased regimentations as a result of national governmental health policies and the increased competition from suppliers of generic drugs.

Altana added that a number of developments within the company also influenced the board’s decision, including the Pantoprazole patent expiry in 2009-10 and the resultant gap in products, sales and earnings that cannot be compensated for through other means.

The transaction is expected to close on December 29th, with the transfer of business occurring on January 1st 2007.

Dr Nikolaus Schweickart, president and chief executive officer of Altana, said: “The approval of the sale of the pharmaceuticals business by our shareholders and the strategic realignment with a focus on the specialty chemicals business will result in a substantial change of the Altana group structure.”

He added that this move was a result of “long-term strategic considerations” of the company.

Also this week, the company reported that the sale of its pharmaceutical business would result in a special dividend of 32 euros (21.46 pounds) per share, in addition to an annual dividend of 1.3 euros (0.87 pounds) per share.