The pharmaceutical group Esteve Healthcare has given entry into its capital to the German investment group Lubea, with a minority stake of 26%, to boost its growth plans. The CEO Staffan Schüberg, explained this morning that the opening of the firm's capital is "probably" the first step for the company's IPO, an operation for which he, however, did not set a date.
Schüberg explained that the German group becomes a shareholder of Esteve Healthcare, the pharmaceutical division of the Esteve family group, which had a turnover of 644 million euros last year (257 million from the sale of medicines and 385 million from the sale of active ingredients to other pharmaceutical laboratories). Schüberg did not quantify the investment provided by the German group, although he stated that it has been "very significant" and stressed that "it is an investor who has a long-term vision, of 20 or 30 years", which fits with the philosophy of the company. .
The Esteve family will continue as the majority shareholder of Esteve Healthcare, and will control its board of directors, which will also include representatives of the German group and independent directors, explained Schüberg. . "From now on the company will be run as a listed company," he stressed.
The family, for its part, will continue to control 100% of Corporación Químico Farmacéutica Esteve, which is an investment company created this year, as a spin-off from the group, and which owns 50% of Esteve Teijin Healthcare, 50% of Isdin and 15% of Hangzou Jiuyuan Gene Engineering.
The agreement with Lubea, recently signed with the advice of Morgan Stanley and Faus Moliner, is pending the final approval of the European antitrust authorities.
This morning, Esteve also presented its results for 2022, in which revenue increased by 15%, but its profitability even more compared to 2021. The financial director, José Luis Urbieta, explained that operating profit or ebitda grew by 44%, up to 125 million euros, while the profit before taxes tripled, up to 99 million. The firm also continued its debt reduction, which was only 7 million euros, maintaining its investment effort: it allocated 25 million euros to expand the capacity of its Lliçà de Vall active ingredients factory by 20% and to improvements in other plants.
Esteve will also invest another 75 million in its plants until 2025, assured the CEO. “We produce for the world's pharmaceutical leaders, who value quality, geographic location, security of supply and sustainability in us, not just price,” he recalled. In this sense, 100% of the energy consumed by the company is already renewable.
Last year the group obtained 27% of its income in Spain, 45% in the rest of Europe and 28% in the rest of the world. With a presence in 48 countries, it is reinforcing its internationalization and last year it created two new subsidiaries, in Portugal and Italy.
Esteve plans to use the new resources to buy "companies or products" that are complementary to its current portfolio. Geographically, the group's priority is to grow in Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux, while by therapeutic areas it wants to focus on oncology, ophthalmology and central nervous system therapies, a therapeutic area in which it has launched its first self-developed drug in the United States United States, as well as a product for Parkinson's in Germany. In this way, he explained that 65% of the group's income from drug sales already comes from self-research drugs.
