BMS To Sell Asia Pacific OTC Assets

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has reached an agreement for the sale of its OTC assets in Asia Pacific (excluding China and Japan) to Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for $310 million.

Taisho will acquire certain product registrations, trademarks and related assets of selected pharmaceutical and OTC products sold primarily in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as in other countries in the region. These products include the rights to Tempra, Counterpain, Theragran-M, Engran, Ceetrus and Keri brands. The transaction also includes BMS’ 97.97% stake in PT Bristol-Myers Squibb Indonesia Tbk, and the facilities, product registrations, IP, inventory and other related assets. The transaction is expected to close in 4Q09.

Taisho will continue to supply these products in Indonesia and other countries within Asia Pacific. Additionally, all 126 employees of BMS Indonesia will transfer to Taisho.

“This planned divestiture is a part of BMS’ strategic transformation into a more focused next-generation BioPharma company that develops and commercializes products that address serious unmet medical needs,” said Dieter Weinand, president, Intercontinental, BMS. “The company is looking closely at its geographic and manufacturing footprint to align more closely to the scale and size of a BioPharma company. Today’s announcement is the seventh in a series of transactions Bristol-Myers Squibb has recently executed within this optimization strategy.”

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