Ascendis Health

History

2022: LetterOne and Blantyre Capital buy Ascendis Health assets

On February 1, 2022 it became known of sale of assets of the South African pharmaceutical holding Ascendis Health to the LetterOneMihaila companies of Friedman and Blantyre Capital. The deal is made as part of the recapitalization of a pharmaceutical company that is mired in debt.

Friedman bought out debt-ridden farmholding Ascendis Health from South Africa

According to RBC, citing a petition submitted to the Competition Protection Commission of the Republic of Cyprus, the following companies of the Ascendis Health group will be included in the perimeter of the transaction:

• the Cyprus-based generic drug manufacturer Remedia;
• specializing in the production of over-the-counter drugs Spanish Farmalider;
• Sun Wave Pharma, which produces and distributes mainly in Romania dietary supplements and other related products in various therapeutic fields, in particular those related to mental, cognitive and cardiovascular diseases.

At the same time, in fact, LetterOne and Blantyre Capital gained control of Remedia and Sun Wave Pharma back in October 2021 as part of the Ascendis Health restructuring plan. It has been discussed in negotiations with a consortium of creditors since June 2020. As of January 2021, investment companies, which are the largest creditors of Ascendis Health, accounted for 75% of the pharmaceutical manufacturer's debt obligations.

Creditors proposed to restructure the holding through the conversion of its debt obligations into asset ownership. After that, investors are expected to provide Ascendis with a $22.5 million credit line, which the company will be able to use as necessary to finance future operations.

Investments in the pharmaceutical sector as part of the LetterOne are handled by the L1 Health division. Under its management by February 2022 are the American platform Destination Pet (provides veterinary services for pets), as well as the investment company K2 HealthVentures, which finances biotechnology companies specializing in the development of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.^[1]

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