Citigroup Fund Buys 38% of Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Company

Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI) is going to purchase 38% of the Bulgarian animal health company Huvepharma.

Emerging markets private equity investor CVCI, which is a subsidiary of alternative asset management platform Citi Capital Advisors, an arm of global investment bank Citigroup, announced the deal in a company statement cited by Dow Jones.

The deal will involve a primary issuance as well as a stake purchase from controlling shareholders, including Advance Properties, a Bulgarian investment holding company.

Huvepharma is a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals for the livestock market, specializing in the poultry, swine and cattle segments. It also produces nutritional feed additives and niche veterinary products. 65% of Huvepharma's produce is exported to the EU and North America.

Huvepharma is the majoring shareholder of Biovet Peshtera, a leading European manufacturer and marketer of medicated and nutritional feed additives, enzymes, bulk active substances and pharmaceuticals for animal productivity and health.

The company offers intermediates, active ingredients and medicines for the human pharmaceuticals industry as well as enzymes, enzyme complexes and other ingredients for the baking, wine, brewing, detergents, and textiles industries.

The news about the CVCI investment into Huverpharma caused the shares of its subsidiary Biovet to skyrocket on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange gaining 10.4%.

Huvepharma is controlled by brothers Kiril and Georgi Domuschiev, whose KG Maritime Shipping in a consortium with the Duesseldorf-based German company Martrade Shipping & Transport GmbH purchased in 2008 Bulgaria's state sea shipping company, Navigation Maritime Bulgare (aka NAVIBULGAR).

The management of the emerging markets private equity investor CVCI has expresses its positive expectations with respect to the deal on Huvepharma.

"Based on our knowledge of the emerging market specialty pharma landscape, we have been tracking Huvepharma for several years. We believe the company is poised for strong growth, based on a very impressive pipeline of pending product registrations across all the key regulated livestock geographies worldwide. Healthcare is a focus investment area for CVCI and, we are therefore very pleased that Huvepharma will become one of CVCI's portfolio companies in this sector," said Sunil Nair, CVCI's head for Europe, Middle East, India and Afrtica.

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