Naturex acquires Hammer Pharma for €10 million

25/01/07 Naturex has announced the acquisition of Italian company Hammer Pharma, based in Milan, specializing in the R&D and production of plant extracts for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries for over fifty years. Hammer Pharma employs approximately fifty staff and generated revenues of €7.8 million in 2006 with an EBITDA of almost €0.9 million. The cost of this acquisition is €10 million. Naturex will finance €6 million of this transaction in cash and the other € 4 million through company debt.

Hammer Pharma is authorized by the Italian Ministry of Health to produce pharmaceutical ingredients. The company has also compiled E.D.M.F. (European Drug Master File) files for the main plant extracts that it produces and markets. These files authorize the integration of the extracts in finished pharmaceutical products.

In addition, the acquisition of Hammer Pharma will mean an additional, high-quality industrial facility for Naturex. Indeed, the company's 25,000 sqm (270,000 square feet) site has the capacity to extract over 3,500 tons of raw materials each year. According to Jacques Dikansky, CEO of Naturex, “As Hammer Pharma is ideally located at the heart of one of Europe's key industrial zones, the acquisition affords Naturex another strategic location, and will reinforce the Group's positioning on the German and Italian markets, which rank amongst the highest in Europe, and in which Hammer Pharma is a player. Moreover, with the acquisition of Hammer Pharma, the pharmaceuticals sector will constitute a new area of development for Naturex”.

Lastly, for Enzo Beacco, Chairman of Hammer Pharma, “Hammer Pharma's integration within Naturex will enable us to better capitalize on our industrial and scientific strengths through the Group's sales network”.