United Drug to buy Spain’s Expansis for €12m

United Drug has reached agreement to buy Spanish company Expansis for a maximum consideration of €12m.

The addition of the Madrid-based contract sales business is being viewed as a natural complement to United’s Pharmexx Spain unit, which it inherited as part of its 2012 €35m takeover of Pharmexx GmbH.

The Expansis deal is dependent on approval from the Spanish competition authorities, but is expected to formally conclude before the end of September.

United Drug chief executive Liam FitzGerald said the deal will help the Dublin-headquartered healthcare services group build a market-leading contract sales business in Spain.

“Expansis has an impressive track record, is well-established in the Spanish market, and will further strengthen United Drug’s presence in this important market,” he added.

The group will finance the deal from internal resources and existing debt facilities, with the acquisition likely to be earnings accretive in the first year of ownership.

United Drug has a busy week coming up, with an update on recent trading due on Wednesday, before shareholders vote on its planned name-change to UDG Healthcare two days later.

In May, the group reported an 8% annualised increase in first-half adjusted pre-tax profits, to €38m, with revenue ahead of the corresponding period by 14% to just shy of €1.2bn.

United Drug spent more than €100m on buys last year and recently said that it had €50m-€60m to spend on upcoming targets if it so wished.