BTP, the speciality chemical group which makes one of the ingredients for the Via-gra impotence drug, is expanding in France with a GBP 54 million acquisition.
BTP is buying Hexachimie SAS, a subsidiary of US giant Bristol- Myers Squibb. About a third of its GBP 26 million sales result from long-term supply contracts with Bristol-Myers, with a minimum of five years.
The price represents a multiple of just over 10 times operating profits last year of GBP 5.3 million. Hexachimie makes "intermediate" ingredients for agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. It also manufactures bulk active pharmaceuticals and the oral biocide Hexetidine. BTP chief executive Steve Hannam said: "The acquisition is part of the expansion of our capabilities in the life science market. It broadens our customer base as well as giving an ongoing relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb." He added that the ability to produce active pharmaceuticals required different plant and a different management approach to meet necessary high standards, a capability the new company would bring to BTP. On BTP's input into Via-gra, Hannam said: "For us, Viagra is just one of seven drugs. The Food and Drug Administration is saying the six deaths are unlikely to be connected to it. "With a million people taking it, you'd expect six to die anyway. I expect demand for and interest in Viagra to continue," he added.
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