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29 March 2024

Glaxo buys UCB emerging activities

Published
By Reuters

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to buy Belgian pharmaceutical group UCB's operations and commercial rights in a number of emerging markets for €515 million (Dh2.4 billion).

The two companies announced the cash deal yesterday for more than 50 operations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America, but excluding Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Korea and Mexico and UCB's new core products. The completion of the deal is due in late March.

New Glaxo Chief Executive Andrew Witty has made emerging markets a priority, a pledge backed up in July by a deal with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings and in December by its acquisition of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Pakistan operations. UCB described the activities as smaller markets for it, representing three to four per cent of revenue, and said their sale would allow it to focus on key strategic areas.