Cooper-Vemedia acquires product portfolio from Sanofi

April 16, 2018

Charterhouse Capital Partners (“Charterhouse”) today announces that its portfolio company Cooper-Vemedia (“the Company”), a leading European OTC drug manufacturer and distributor, has acquired a portfolio of 12 pharmaceutical brands from Sanofi S.A. (“Sanofi”) for an amount of €158m.

The products are split across the Dermatology, Well-being, Eye Care and other fields and are predominately sold in France and Italy, as well as exported to other markets around the world. The portfolio includes a number of well-established, market-leading brands, which are highly complementary to Cooper-Vemedia’s existing diversified product range.

Cooper-Vemedia is a leading independent pan-European OTC drug manufacturer and distributor, with a key presence in six European OTC domestic markets and various export countries worldwide. It operates with a unique distribution network tailored to each local market. It benefits from a diversified product portfolio in various speciality segments, including leading and sizable international brands benefitting strong brand awareness. It has approximately 730 full-time employees.

This acquisition represents the next step in the Cooper-Vemedia Group’s strategy to create a pure-play OTC pan-European leader. This is the second significant add-on acquisition made by the Company under Charterhouse’s ownership. In 2016, Cooper acquired Vemedia, a leading and highly complementary Netherlands based OTC pharmaceutical company, to create a leading and diversified OTC pan-European group.

Francis Doblin, CEO of Cooper-Vemedia, said: “The acquisition of these strong brands, each with high consumer awareness and leading market positions, will further strengthen Cooper’s position in Europe. We are convinced that Cooper-Vemedia will successfully integrate these brands into its existing network to further fulfil its potential as an international leader in the OTC space”.

Alan Main, Head of Consumer Healthcare, Sanofi said: “The divestment of these non-core products is aligned with our growth model strategy to focus on four core categories of Pain; Allergy, Cough & Cold; Digestive Health and Nutritionals and reduce the complexity of our portfolio. It allows us to focus more strongly around global and some core local brands and drives the correct balance between achieving the efficiencies that come with global scale, while ensuring we have the breadth of portfolio to win locally”.