CEUMED

Our Client CEUMED, a major supplier of baby-, personal- and healthcare OTC products in CEE successfully closed an M&A transaction with the Belgium-based strategic buyer Ceres Pharma NV in October 2018.

The family-owned CEUMED is a significant player of the pharmaceutical OTC industry in CEE, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, with offices and strong sales & marketing networks in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.

CEUMED primarily focuses on brand building and sales of large pharmaceutical companies’ product portfolios in the CEE region but also develops and sells own products leveraging its presence and extensive network in the region.

Ceres Pharma is well-known in the international pharma industry and media as “mini Omega Pharma”, reflecting the fact that Ceres’s co-founder Marc Coucke is the one who founded Omega Pharma in 1987, played a key role in making it become a prominent international player of 1.2 bn EUR revenue (2013) with operations in 35 countries worldwide and selling the company at 3.6 bn EUR to the US-based global leader Perrigo.

The other co-founder of Ceres Pharma Mario Debel had fulfilled positions in Omega’s Executive Team for 16 years.

Prior to the acquisition of CEUMED, Ceres Pharma already significantly strengthened its portfolio by acquiring the range of women’s health medicines from the Belgium-based listed company Mithra in July 2018, which transaction resulted in doubling its turnover.

CEUMED’s acquisition opens the door to Ceres Pharma’s expansion in the CEE region with a double-digit annual growth potential and ensures a whole range of synergies in both parties’ product portfolios to be leveraged.

CEUMED is the very first foreign acquisition of the company.

 “We are particularly proud to be part of a bigger group, such as Ceres Pharma, with major ambitions in terms of growth and which has the same ethical values. Together, we are better positioned to drive the further development of innovative products, and expand further geographically in the region.” said CEUMED’s General Manager Ildikó Balázsi about the transaction.

CEUMED was exclusively advised by Absolvo’s M&A team in the transaction process.