ANZAG takes majority stake in Lithuania's Armila

Leading German drug wholesaler Andreae-Noris Zahn AG has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 92% stake in Lithuanian pharmaceutical wholesaler JSC Armila. "By acquiring Armila, we are expanding our business in foreign markets, and so reducing our dependency on our home market of Germany, and our vulnerability to cyclical fluctuations here," says Thomas Trumper, chairman of ANZAG.

With a market share of 13%, Armila is one of Lithuania's largest pharmaceutical wholesalers. The company is headquartered in Vilnius, and also has sales offices in Kaunas, Klaipe da and S'iauliai. Armila's 105 employees supply around 1,500 customers throughout Lithuania and the neighboring Baltic states, most of them pharmacies and hospitals. In 2007, the company recorded sales of just over 62.0 million euros ($98.6 million).

In recent years, the market for pharmaceuticals in Lithuania has seen consistent double-digit growth. Following recent acquisitions in Croatia and Romania, the purchase of Armila represents the latest stage in ANZAG's strategy to establish itself in carefully targeted high-growth markets.