Several months after taking over Terapia Cluj-Napoca, the second-largest Romanian drugmaker, American financial group Advent International is beginning a new streamlining programme set to cut the number of employees by about 20%.
At the same time, the new shareholder appointed a new general manager, English born Stephen Stead, as Dorin Toderas, the former CEO, quit to get into business on his own. Stead will effectively take his office at Terapia on February 1.
Terapia's personnel will be downsized from about 700 to 550, as the company shed the chemical business and decided to focus solely on drug production.
Terapia has already undergone an extensive streamlining process back in 2002. The process ended in cutting the number of jobs down to half from the previous 1,450 and in closing the division making Calcium Pantothenate, a chemical synthesis product for veterinary use.
"We will primarily focus on drugs and less on chemical products. We also intend to improve our commercial efficiency by consolidating the marketing and sales position (where we will be recruiting new people), along with releasing new products," Stephen Stead told Ziarul Financiar.
Stead has been a member of Terapia's Board of Directors ever since last summer.
Advent, one of the world's leading fund managers, took over Terapia with the stated intent to double its value over the next four years and then sell it to a strategic investor interested in Romania. Advent bought Terapia from financial investors in its turn, under a $42 million transaction.
To successfully attain its goal, Advent set out to invest in the launch of new products, in consolidating the marketing and sales force, in boosting the distribution business (Terapia has its own drug distribution company) and in achieving compliance with the European Union environmental standards.
"We are confident we can achieve substantial sales growth, both on the domestic and on the international market. The markets we operate on are growing, but start from a low value. The launch of new products and the increase in the sales and marketing force will help us outpace the growth of these markets, " Stead said.
In order to back the product development, the environmental investments and the improvement in the distribution business, Advent will start a $4 million capital increase operation next month.
Besides Terapia, two more major pharmaceutical companies will be for sale in the next couple of years: state-owned Antibiotice Iasi and Sicomed Bucharest (held by investment funds).
That is why rumour has it that Advent could try and either buy or initiate merger with one of the two, and Sicomed is the most likely candidate in this regard.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro
