Pharmiva and Peptonic to merge
Things are happening in the Swedish femtech sector. Pharmiva and Peptonic Medical have signed a letter of intent to merge and create a company focused on women’s intimate health. The deal follows Invent Medic’s acquisition of Malmö-based FlowCup earlier this year.
Peptonic is a femtech company that develops and sells medical treatments and lifestyle products. Pharmiva is in full swing with the market launch of Vernivia, a product for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. The two companies recently announced their intention to merge the businesses, a seemingly logical deal where Vernivia complements Peptonic’s self-tests for the diagnosis of vaginal infections.
Creating new conditions for growth
“During the spring, we have worked intensively to ensure that the values that have been built up in Pharmiva so far are realised. Vernivia has been very well received on the Swedish market and will also be launched in Norway after the summer. Working on the geographical expansion, there are major advantages in being able to offer partners and distributors a broader product portfolio. The proposed merger with Peptonic is expected to create new conditions for expanding and launching in new markets for the companies”, Pharmiva’s CEO Anna Linton states in a comment on the merger.
The merger needs to be approved
According to the letter of intent, Peptonic’s share of the new company will amount to approximately 85 per cent. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of Pharmiva will receive twelve shares in Peptonic for each share they own in Pharmiva.
The completion of the merger is subject to the Board of Directors of both companies deciding to adopt a joint merger plan. The merger also needs to be approved at an extraordinary general meeting in Pharmiva. Shareholders representing approximately 37 per cent of the shares in Pharmiva have undertaken or announced their intention to vote in favour of the proposed merger, provided that other conditions are fulfilled.
Erik Sundquist, CEO of Peptonic, shares Anna Linton’s enthusiasm for the merger and looks forward to the operational and synergistic savings it entails. He also notes that the merger will strengthen parts of the organisation and that the new company will take “another very important step towards putting a leading Swedish company on a global – and important – market”.
Further consolidation of the industry
The merger between Pharmiva and Peptonic is not the only deal on the Swedish femtech scene this year. In January, Lund-based Invent Medic announced that it is acquiring menstrual cup specialist FlowCup for a purchase price of approximately 3.7 MSEK. FlowCup is a sector colleague to Peptonic, which offers intimate products through the Lunette brand.
Whether we will see continued consolidation in the near future remains to be seen. Invent Medic definitely has that ambition. In that case, BioStock will have reason to report further.
The content of BioStock’s news and analyses is independent but the work of BioStock is to a certain degree financed by life science companies. The above article concerns a company from which BioStock has received financing.
