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Russian watchdog clears Abbot's purchase of Veropharm for $650 million

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MOSCOW, September 02. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian government’s foreign investment commission has cleared US company Abbot purchase of Russia’s major pharmaceutical producer Veropharm for $650 million, Director of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev said Tuesday.

“The first deal, which has been cleared by the commission today, is large US company Abbot buying Veropharm that produces many important medicines for the treatment of oncological diseases, acute leukemia and others,” Artemyev said.

He also said the sum of the deal comprises the cost of Veropharm and its affiliates, while $250 million more will be allocated for the construction of new production sites increasing the production’s localization.

On June 24, Abbott said that it will acquire Veropharm from its largest shareholder Roman Avdeyev for $13.6-17 billion rubles. The purchase price will depend on the stake which Avdeyev’s holding Garden Hills, which currently owns about 81% in Veropharm, can consolidate at the moment when the contract is signed.

Abbot also agreed to repay Veropharm’s debts of 4.7 billion rubles, or $136 million.

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