October 16, 2015 15:21 
Tuca Zbarcea and Associates assisted Interbrands Marketing and Distribution in the acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s owned company Europharm Holding. The transaction contract was signed on October 13th and represents the end of complex negotiations and intricate administrative endeavors. The final decision in the procurement of Europharm Holding belongs to the Romanian Competition Council and also depends on the transaction being able to meet certain commercial requirements.
George Katzourakis, SVP Head Europe Area, Pharma Europe, declared that this represents “ an important moment for Europharm Distribution, which has become one of the most important pharmaceutical products distributors in Romania. Europharm Distribution plays an important role in the Romanian pharmaceutical products distribution market and it is also very valuable to GSK in Romania, so, in analyzing the Interbrand offer, GSK took into consideration the buyer's dedication to continuing the business and the well being of the employees”.
According to certain market sources GSK has been trying to sell its distribution unit for quite some time, while Interbrands has been trying to get into the pharmaceutical distribution market for the past four years.
Interbrands Marketing and Distribution is part of Sarkis Group International and its business extends to Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, Lebanon, Qatar, Iraq and Libya.
In Romania, its distributions amount to over1 billion EUR since 2007, according to the Interbrands site. It also has over 40,000 stores around the country.
Moreover, Europharm is one of the top five local pharma distribution companies and has been active on this market since 1994.
The transaction which took place is therefore not simply significant for the two companies themselves but also for the connected Romanian market.
The Tuca Zbarcea si Asociatii legal team was headed by Managing Associate Andreea Lisievici. It also included Senior Associates Andreea Oprisan and Ruxandra Frangeti.
