Pierre Fabre prepares for succession

The founder and head of the French independent drugmaker of the same name, Pierre Fabre, is meticulously preparing his succession on the eve of his 80th birthday. There is no direct family inheritor and, as has been his style for decades, Mr Fabre is keeping quiet about the details of his new plan - although most of the outlines are now emerging. Pierre-Yves Revol, deputy director general and personal assistant to Mr Fabre, has said the aim is to maintain the company for as long as possible in its current form. The group is to remain independent at its base at Castres in southern France.

A Pierre Fabre foundation has been set up which has humanitarian objectives and which will support R&D programs to develop agents to treat the tropical diseases of black Africa. Additionally, a faculty of medicine is being built in Cambodia. The foundation has a 5% stake in the company and, more recently, employees have been able to acquire shares; they now hold 2% of the capital as of last month. In the longer term Fabre does not exclude a market listing although Mr Revol says this is not certain and is not an objective. Fabre's finance director, Bertrand Parmentier, has said that "we will do all we can not to be prevented from entering the Paris Bourse one day if it proves necessary."

Putting stress on R&D