OHF GOES BANKRUPT DUE TO CLONATEC

OHF, the French holding group which rescued companies and sold them off profitably, has itself gone under and filed for bankruptcy. The Nanterrre commercial tribunal is expected to name a receiver shortly.

Some companies taken over by OHF have been sold off, but problems affected Clonatec, a small manufacturer of diagnostic tests on which OHF hoped to concentrate. French drug major Sanofi attacked Clonatec over several AIDS tests and the French drug regulatory agency compelled the company to withdraw one of its AIDS tests on safety grounds.

The German chemicals/pharmaceuticals group Hoechst also ended an agreement with Clonatec, and potential investors faded away. OHF chairman Philippe Brule says he is disappointed no deal could be struck with Sanofi. At the end of last year, OHF completed what it hoped would have been a rescue package under the direction of the Interministerial Committee for Industrial Reconstruction.