Paris, March 30, 2020 – The selling of the Southern perimeter (Italy, Greece and Spain) of the pharmaceutical subcontractor Famar as part of the sale of its European activities, comprising seven manufacturing and distribution sites, to the investment funds York and ECM, was carried out by Jeantet, lead counsel for Famar, and Reed Smith, lead counsel for York and ECM.

Following the sale of its French, Dutch and Canadian manufacturing sites to its competitor and one of the European leaders in pharmaceutical subcontracting and cosmetics manufacturing, the French Delpharm group at the end of 2019, Famar is completing the process of selling its industrial assets in bonis, which was initiated by a call for tenders in early summer 2019.

Through this transaction, Famar is selling to the York Capital Management (York) mutual fund and the Slovenian fund Elements-Capital Management (ECM) the shares of its Greek, Spanish and Italian entities, which together operate six plants, four of which are located near Athens, one in Madrid and another near Milan, as well as a distribution centre in Greece. These production and distribution units represent a global turnover of 210 million euros and a total workforce of 1900 employees.

The Jeantet team, acting as lead counsel for Famar on the transaction, was composed of Thierry Brun, Marianne Chevallier, and Maria Plakci for M&A, Jean-Guillaume Follorou and Gabriel di Chiara for Tax.

York and ECM selected Reed Smith for its transactional expertise in life sciences, its ability to work in multiple jurisdictions (the transaction was governed by French law with close collaboration between the London and Paris teams) and its expertise on competition issues and AIFMD compliance and notification requirements.

Reed Smith has worked with Guilain Hippolyte (M&A – Paris), Iqbal Hussain and Panos Katsambas (M&A – London), as well as Marianne Schaffner (IP – Paris), Severine Martel (Employment Law – Paris) and Margot Lacaud (Litigation – Paris).