Family-owned Italian biopharmaceutical group Dompe Farmaceutici is considering a listing of its shares as it looks to focus more on its biotech business and treating specific diseases.
“In 3-4 years we could consider a flotation perhaps in the U.S.,” Chief Executive Sergio Dompe said.
Dompe, son of company founder Franco Dompe, said other options also existed, including a reverse merger – or buying a listed business – in the United States, one of the company’s key markets.
The CEO said private equity firms, as well as some European and U.S. industrial players, had made contact with a view to buying the company.
“I told them not to bother since I will never sell,” he said.
Italy has a thriving pharmaceutical sector. But it is fragmented and analysts believe it could benefit from consolidation.
In June, family-controlled Recordati was snapped up by a consortium of investment funds controlled by CVC Capital Partners in a deal worth about 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion).
Dompe Farmaceutici, headquartered in Milan, employs around 800 people and had sales last year of 250 million euros.
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Earlier this year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its new product based on cenegermin – the first drug for the treatment of rare eye disease neurotrophic keratitis.
Dompe, who hopes to be able to market the new treatment in China, said the new cenegermin-based drug was a game changer that could help boost margins over time and support investments in research and development.
“I’m looking to make this company a pharmaceutical biotech business with a focus on particular diseases,” Dompe said. ($1 = 0.8786 euros)
By Stephen Jewkes
Source: Reuters
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