Schering AG To Buy Huhtamaki's Leiras Unit

Finland's consumer products group Huhtamaki made it clear long ago that it was planning to divest its pharmaceutical subsidiary Leiras (Marketletter February 19 and June 17), and various buyers were suggested. Now it has been announced that the successful bidder is Germany's Schering AG. The purchase price, which excludes Leiras' ophthalmol-ogy business (some 15% of the total in terms of sales), is 1.425 billion markka ($305.2 million).

Among the strengths of Leiras is its gynecology expertise, and Schering - a leader in oral contraception - says it wants to supplement its own product range in the fields of fertility control and hormone therapy. Leiras, says Schering, is highly competent in the development and production on non-oral application forms for fertility control and hormone therapy, and this is an area which promises excellent market opportunities in future. The sector is also expected to grow at a faster rate than the overall pharmaceutical market.

For 1995, Leiras posted sales of around 857 million markka ($183.6 million) and operating earnings, after R&D expenses of 21% of net sales, at 135 million markka. 51% of sales went in exports. For the first four months of the current year, Leiras sales were 283 million markka, up 3% on the like, year-earlier period.