Dubai September 4, 2012: TVM Capital MENA is set to expand its regional focus to include investment opportunities in the pharmaceutical arena. The move follows a recent announcement by the private equity firm’s European headquarters that TVM Capital portfolio company, Riemser Arzneimittel AG (Riemser), has been acquired by the leading European diversified private equity firm AXA Private Equity. Riemser, an international specialty pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Greifswald, Germany, has a primary focus on the sales, marketing and lifecycle management of pharmaceutical products for niche therapeutic markets with high medical need in the fields of Oncology, Anti-Infectives and Dermatology. In 2011, Riemser, which has around 500 employees on its payroll, posted sales revenues of approximately €100 million and continues to grow profitably.
Since TVM Capital MENA established operations in 2010 as the first international private equity house with a focus in healthcare in the MENA region, it has maintained the strategy of involving leading global operators to provide unique and specialized healthcare services in the Middle East. The MENA fund currently has two portfolio companies, ProVita International Medical Center, which has been established for over 12 months and Bourn Hall Clinic, which operates in the Middle East and India.
Dr. Helmut M. Schuehsler, Chairman and CEO of TVM Capital MENA said, ‘we believe that the fast growing pharmaceutical market in the Middle East and North Africa region provides attractive growth prospects to specialized investors. Riemser is a good example of an attractive European specialty pharmaceutical company investment with excellent growth prospects in emerging markets. TVM Capital as a group has a tremendous network in the pharmaceutical industry from 25 years of investing in the industry in Europe and the US. TVM Capital MENA will in the future also look for investment opportunities in the regional pharmaceutical industry, especially in companies that operate at international quality standards and have products that are attractive not only in the region but also for introduction in other emerging countries, or even the mature European or North American market place.”
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Notes to editor
TVM Capital MENA Ltd. is a private equity firm focusing on growth capital investments in health care in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). TVM Capital MENA operates out of the Dubai International Financial Centre and is licensed and regulated by the DFSA. Investors in the TVM Healthcare MENA I fund include the IFC (International Finance Corporation), GE Healthcare, the Olayan Group, Crescent Enterprises, and a group of entrepreneurs from the MENA region advised by Dubai-based Alcazar Capital Limited.
The team of TVM Capital MENA is affiliated to TVM Capital worldwide, which currently manages around US$1.1bn of Healthcare and Life Science investment capital from more than 50 international investors. The investment professionals draw upon the experience, international approach and demonstrated success of about 80 exits from almost 120 investments. Exits include nearly 40 initial public offerings on the NASDAQ, and the London, Frankfurt, Zurich and Vienna Stock Exchanges and 25 trade sales and mergers. TVM Capital operates with regional but highly integrated teams from its European and North American headquarters in Munich and Montreal, a representative office in Boston, and the Dubai-based operating base for the Middle East, North Africa and India.
The TVM Capital MENA team therefore combines long-standing international investment experience and operating track records with extensive networks in, and knowledge of, the MENA region.