Ardian sells Riemser to international pharmaceutical company Esteve

RIEMSER is a provider of specialty pharmaceuticals in human medicine headquartered in Greifswald and Berlin. The Company has subsidiaries in Great Britain, France and Spain, and an international distribution network across more than 50 countries.

With the acquisition of RIEMSER, ESTEVE broadens its access to the fast-growing hospital market, in which RIEMSER is particularly successful. Today, RIEMSER generates about 80 percent of its sales with products for clinical application. Numerous RIEMSER drugs are considered ‘gold standard’. 

Ardian acquired RIEMSER in 2012 and, together with the management team, successfully refocused the company on its core business of specialty pharmaceuticals, which it acquires, licenses, markets and distributes. Today, the company’s product portfolio comprises prescription drugs for the treatment of serious diseases in oncology, neurology, infectiology, as well as niche indications in cardiovascular medicine, dermatology, rheumatology and infectiology. 
RIEMSER has divested from areas which are not part of its core business, such as the dental and veterinary business and the medical devices business. The proceeds were invested in the licensing and acquisition of products, the acquisition of companies in the specialty pharmaceuticals sector and the expansion of indications for existing products: 

RIEMSER acquired Keocyt in France in 2014 and Intrapharm, based in England, in 2015. In 2016, the acquisition of the CNS division of Dolorgiet followed, whose products expanded the portfolio by the therapeutic area of neurology. In 2019, RIEMSER bought the Spanish distribution service provider Zaltanpharma, which has since been renamed RIEMSER Iberia. 
In the area of drug approval and in--licensing, RIEMSER, among others introduced the active ingredient triamcinolone hexacetonide in Canada and concluded an agreement with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai on the exclusive development and marketing rights for Prialt in Europe in 2018; in 2019 Keocyt received a new EU approval for Zanosar in eleven European countries.  

Christof Naményi, Managing Director in the German Ardian Buyout team, said: "Ardian has extensive experience as an investor in the European healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceutical markets. We are pleased that we have been able to successfully leverage our expertise and network with RIEMSER, supporting the company’s acquisition strategy, corporate and organisational development, and executive recruitment. We would like to thank Konstantin von Alvensleben, his management team and all RIEMSER employees for the excellent cooperation and wish them all the best for the future.”

Konstantin von Alvensleben, CEO of RIEMSER, added: "When I joined RIEMSER in 2015, Ardian had already set the course for the further development of the company. I am pleased that since then we have been able to accelerate this process and together reached further milestones in the growth and internationalisation of the business. Ardian’s support was invaluable in achieving this. We are very proud that with Esteve, a strong family-owned pharma company with a long tradition, has chosen to acquire Riemser and we are looking forward to entering the next stage of our development. Being part of a much larger Group will support our joint growth. "