Degussa sell-offs completed soon

Germany's specialty chemicals and metals group Degussa has confirmed itis to sell off its pharmaceutical businesses (Marketletters passim), starting with its generics subsidiary in the first half of this year. Bernd Aundrup, chairman of the drugmaking subsidiary Asta Medica, which had sales of 765 million euros ($686.1 million) last year with operating profits of 31 million euros, said the entire sell-off would be complete by the second half of 2001.

First to go will be the generics company AWD-Pharma, followed by Asta and the oncology R&D unit Zentaris, which will be the subject of a stock exchange listing. Mr Aundrup said negotiations over the sale of the generics company would probably be concluded by the end of June, but declined to name any potential purchasers either for AWD-Pharma or for the other subsidiaries.

When questioned earlier in the year as to whether it would be interested in buying any of Degussa's units, Merck KGaA's chief executive Bernhard Scheuble said that the group's presence in oncology would be of interest (Marketletter February 26), but Mr Aundrup said that no negotiations have taken place with Merck as yet.