The Swedish Competition Authority Approves Karo Pharma's Acquisition of Trimb and Karo Pharma Continues the Company's Efforts Elated to Internalisation of Sales and Marketing

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Karo Pharma Aktiebolag (the "Company" or "Karo Pharma") today announces that the acquisition of all the shares of Trimb Holding AB ("Trimb") from Avista Capital Partners ("Avista") and other shareholders for MSEK 3,400 (the "Transaction"), which was signed on 21 June, 2019, has been approved by the Swedish Competition Authority. Previously, clearances have been received from the competition authorities in Germany and Austria. The Transaction is expected to close on 12 September, 2019.

The decisions from the competition authorities entail that they approve the company concentration arising as a result of the acquisition. Karo Pharma has, towards the Swedish Competition Authority, voluntarily undertaken, under certain conditions and subject to a fine (Sw. vite), to divest a product within the hydrocortisone category, with sales during the financial year 2018 of less than MSEK 20.

The Transaction is expected to contribute positively to Karo Pharma's market position and create a strong platform for Karo Pharma's continued growth.

The company has agreed with its distributor of MultiGyn and MultiMam in Germany, to end their cooperation as of 1 October, 2019, conditioned upon Karo Pharma's acquisition of Trimb having closed at that time. Karo Pharma will accordingly set up a sales organisation in Germany to sell these products directly in-house with the purpose to eventually achieve a higher profitability and strengthen the control over its brands on additional geographic markets. The compensation to the distribution partner for termination is estimated to amount to approximately 7 million euro, which will impact the company's cash flow in the fourth quarter and the result from the fourth quarter of 2019.

For further information, please contact: 

Christoffer Lorenzen, CEO, +46-73-501-76-20, christoffer.lorenzen@karopharma.se

Mats-Olof Wallin, CFO, +46-76-002-60-10, mats-olof.wallin@karopharma.se

About Karo Pharma 

Karo Pharma is a specialty pharma company, which develops and markets products for pharmacies as well as directly to the healthcare sector. Karo Pharma is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap.

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 14:00 CEST on 4 September, 2019.

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https://news.cision.com/karo-pharma/r/the-swedish-competition-authority-approves-karo-pharma-s-acquisition-of-trimb-and-karo-pharma-contin,c2895833

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