Armira acquires minority stake in PharOS together with Viessmann

Munich/ Batten­berg (Eder) — Viess­mann Gene­ra­ti­ons Group (“Viess­mann”), a leading family-owned company with a 107-year history, and the invest­ment holding Armira have acqui­red a signi­fi­cant mino­rity stake in the Euro­pean phar­maceu­ti­cal deve­lo­per and manu­fac­tu­rer PharOS as part of a consor­tium. The invest­ment under­lines Viessmann’s stra­te­gic focus on long-term value crea­tion in indus­tries that are criti­cal to the well-being of future gene­ra­ti­ons. PharOS ensu­res access to high-quality and afforda­ble health­care in Europe. The Viess­mann holding company now holds around 27 percent of the shares in the gene­rics manu­fac­tu­rer, with Armira holding a further 13 percent. PharOS is a leading phar­maceu­ti­cal company that deve­lops, produ­ces and supplies gene­rics, over-the-coun­­ter medi­ci­nes and value-added medi­ci­nes. The company, based in Meta­mor­fosi near Athens, specia­li­zes in parti­cu­lar in diffi­­cult-to-produce gene­rics in criti­cal treat­ment areas. These include onco­logy and drugs for neuro­lo­gi­cal and cardio­me­ta­bo­lic dise­a­ses. With Euro­pean produc­tion capa­ci­ties and stable supply chains, PharOS is a stra­te­gic part­ner for leading phar­maceu­ti­cal compa­nies. The company has a global port­fo­lio of over 100 products and more than 9,200 marke­ting autho­riza­ti­ons. Drug shorta­ges are reaching histo­ric highs in the US, Europe and other markets due to a heavy reli­ance on phar­maceu­ti­cal products manu­fac­tu­red in Asia. This depen­dence leads to fragile supply chains, which are further strai­ned by geopo­li­ti­cal tensi­ons and regu­la­tory chal­lenges. Local produc­tion is ther­e­fore of crucial stra­te­gic importance for Europe. Max Viess­mann, CEO of Viess­mann: “Our entre­pre­neu­rial acti­vi­ties are aimed at stra­te­gi­cally promo­ting essen­tial areas that are crucial for the well-being of future gene­ra­ti­ons. Gene­rics are the foun­da­tion of afforda­ble global health­care. With our invest­ment in PharOS, we want to contri­bute to a stable, inde­pen­dent and resi­li­ent Euro­pean supply of afforda­ble and effec­tive thera­pies for life-thre­a­­tening diseases.” 

Theo­dore Panag­o­pou­los, Part­ner at PharOS: “We are deligh­ted to have Viess­mann and Armira as new part­ners. Their long-term commit­ment to high-quality, afforda­ble and effec­tive health­care solu­ti­ons fits perfectly with our own mission. Toge­ther, we are ideally posi­tio­ned to further improve health­care world­wide.” PharOS is extre­mely well posi­tio­ned to play a leading role in the multi-billion dollar market for oral solid gene­rics, over-the-coun­­ter medi­ci­nes and value-added medi­ci­nes. With a strong focus on inno­va­tion and rese­arch, the company offers an end-to-end solu­tion for complex products — from patent rese­arch to dossier deve­lo­p­ment, appr­oval and produc­tion. In this way, PharOS crea­tes added value for its custo­mers by proac­tively contri­bu­ting to the further deve­lo­p­ment of their product pipe­line. PharOS employs around 400 people and is led by an expe­ri­en­ced and dedi­ca­ted foun­ding team, which remains the majo­rity shareholder.

About Viess­mann Gene­ra­ti­ons Group

Foun­ded in 1917, the inde­pen­dent family-owned company Viess­mann is now a global, broadly diver­si­fied group. All acti­vi­ties are based on the corpo­rate mission state­ment “We create living spaces for future gene­ra­ti­ons” — this is the passion and respon­si­bi­lity that drives the members of the large global Viess­mann family every day. In line with this goal, Viess­mann offers compa­nies and co-crea­­tors an ecosys­tem that is commit­ted to avoi­ding, redu­cing and storing CO2 beyond the heating industry.

Armira is a leading Munich-based invest­ment holding company focu­sed on direct invest­ments in mid-sized, profi­ta­ble family busi­nesses and high-growth compa­nies in the DACH region, Nort­hern Italy and beyond. Armira is backed by an exclu­sive circle of inves­tors consis­ting of fami­lies, entre­pre­neurs and entre­pre­neu­rial capi­tal to foster trus­ted part­ner­ships with a long-term focus. 

About PharOS

PharOS is a phar­maceu­ti­cal company specia­li­zing in the deve­lo­p­ment, manu­fac­ture and supply of gene­rics and value-added medi­ci­nes. With a global port­fo­lio of over 100 products and more than 9,200 marke­ting autho­riza­ti­ons world­wide, PharOS is an important part­ner for the leading phar­maceu­ti­cal companies. 

Advi­sor Armira: YPOG 

Dr. Stephan Bank (Co-Lead, Corporate/Structuring), Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Helder Schnitt­ker (Co-Lead, Tax/Structuring), Part­ner, Berlin Jens Kretz­schmann (Tax/Structuring), Part­ner, Berlin/Hamburg Lenn­art Lorenz (Regu­la­tory), Part­ner, Hamburg.

About YPOG

YPOG is a law firm specia­li­zing in tax and commer­cial law, active in the core areas of funds, tax, banking + finance and tran­sac­tions. The YPOG team advi­ses a wide variety of clients. These include emer­ging tech­no­logy compa­nies and family-run medium-sized enter­pri­ses as well as corpo­ra­ti­ons and private equity/venture capi­tal funds. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses for venture capi­tal, private equity and fund struc­tu­ring in Germany. Today, YPOG employs more than 150 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers, tax consul­tants, tax specia­lists and a notary in four offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Colo­gne and Munich. www.ypog.law