Pharmacy: the takeover of companies Frank Supplisson proposes to relaunch the Famar site
The buyer of a series of companies in difficulty Frank Supplisson proposes to buy the pharmaceutical site Famar, the last French manufacturer of chloroquine which is threatened with closure in the short term.
The objective is to “recreate a benchmark player in the pharmaceutical industry in France”, underlines the potential buyer in a press release published on Sunday, while the revival of the company is demanded by a broad spectrum of the political class.
For this project, Mr. Supplisson’s Industry company is associated with the Luxembourg family office (family investment fund) Cofilux-Secufund and the pharmaceutical company Neovacs.
Fresh out of receivership, Neovacs brings its “experienced scientific team”, able “to identify the most promising projects”. With the help of its new reference shareholder, the investment company HBR Investment Group, it will also invest in this “ambitious but realistic” project, which will allow it to “diversify” its risks.
Located in Saint-Genis-Laval, near Lyon, the Famar factory now has only 250 employees. It was, however, in the 1980s, the most important factory of Rhône-Poulenc “worldwide”, remind potential buyers.
For ten years, the site has been “sold and then gradually abandoned by its previous owner, without benefiting from minimal investments allowing it to maintain not only its competitiveness but also its security”, they regret.
Famar has been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings since June 2019.
His possible disappearance moved the political class which mobilized in his favor, from the communists to Laurent Wauquiez, the president (LR) of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Mr. Supplisson and his allies propose to take over initially only 150 people, which, in spite of everything, represents the offer “the best said socially”, he said. 93 employees would remain on the floor.
But they intend to invest “massively” in Famar, up to 37 million euros in five years, in order to “remake a major site of the health and drug industry in France, in a context where these industries are called upon to play an increasing role in our economy. “
At the end of this plan, the workforce of the site should increase to more than 400 people, according to them.
The public investment bank bpiFrance, would bring in this framework 6.5 million euros to finance the fitting out of a building. bpiFrance would also have given a “pre-agreement” to finance up to 15 million euros for a new “bioconditioning” activity.
Formerly of Polytechnique and ENA, former chief of staff to the Minister of Industry, Mr. Supplisson has mainly focused on metallurgy so far.
Among the sites it has taken over are the Akers France steel factory in Thionville (Ascoforge), the Altifort SMFI factory in Tarbes (Tarbes Industry), the Alpine Aluminum factory in Annecy (Alpine Aluminum) and two former factories ” ArcelorMittal (Montataire Industry and Gandrange Industry).
This recovery plan must be examined by the Paris Commercial Court on June 30.
– .
