Abdi İbrahim's New Move

Abdi İbrahim, which has been operating in the pharmaceutical sector for 108 years and has been the continuous market leader for 18 years, acquired the 83-year-old OM Pharma pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland, the leading pharmaceutical country, together with a Swiss consortium. With this move, Abdi İbrahim became the first and only Turkish pharmaceutical company to establish a strategic partnership with a European pharmaceutical firm and entered history. Nezih Barut, Chairman of the Board of Abdi İbrahim, which is the sole foreign partner of the Swiss consortium that acquired OM Pharma, said: "As a representative of a family that has served the Turkish pharmaceutical industry for three generations, I am experiencing the pride of realizing a dream not only for Abdi İbrahim but also for my country and sector. Turkish industry has the power to make a difference in the world not only in pharmaceuticals but in every field with its advanced human resources, production experience and entrepreneurial potential. We have moved closer to our goal of becoming an effective pharmaceutical company on the international stage by becoming a strategic partner to a well-established pharmaceutical company in the home of medicine," he said. Abdi İbrahim acquired OM Pharma, which develops medicines in respiratory tract and urinary system fields and is one of Switzerland's leading biotechnology pharmaceutical companies, together with a Swiss consortium.

OM Pharma, acquired for a total of CHF 500 million (approximately TRY 4,200 million), saw 28.5 percent of its shares pass to Abdi İbrahim following the transaction.

OM Pharma, founded in 1937 and headquartered in Geneva, produces biotechnology medicines sold across a broad geography from European countries to Latin America, from China to Russia, in 65 countries. Under this partnership, in which Abdi İbrahim Chairman Nezih Barut will sit on OM Pharma's Board of Directors, as OM Pharma's strategic partner, global production of certain chemical medicines in the company's portfolio is planned to be carried out at Abdi İbrahim facilities henceforth. With the partnership becoming official on 18 September 2020, OM Pharma will allocate CHF 250 million (approximately TRY 2,100 million) for research and development of biotechnology medicines and clinical studies in the coming period. Abdi İbrahim Chairman Nezih Barut, announcing the partnership agreement to the public simultaneously with Switzerland, stated that Abdi İbrahim has maintained its domestic and national character since its founding and has always acted with the goal of being influential on the international stage. Noting that this partnership agreement is a first for the Turkish pharmaceutical industry, Nezih Barut said, "The strategic importance of the domestic pharmaceutical industry was better understood during the difficult pandemic period that the world and our country have gone through. While we have maintained our market leadership in Turkey for 18 years, we have always kept our goals high.

We became the first Turkish company to enter the world's top 100 pharmaceutical companies. We built one of Turkey's and Europe's most modern pharmaceutical facilities.

With AbdiBio, we pioneered the biotechnology field in Turkey. We opened production facilities in Kazakhstan and Algeria. We made start-up investments in the United States for developing new molecules. We have always kept acquisition opportunities in Europe and the United States in our focus. Because we saw this as a leadership mission for our country's pharmaceutical industry. With this partnership agreement, we reverse for the first time the trend of Turkish pharmaceutical companies being acquired by global players, and we become partners with an established biotechnology company operating in Switzerland, one of the centers of the world pharmaceutical industry and home to pharmaceutical giants. I believe this initiative will provide moral and motivation to the Turkish pharmaceutical sector in the atmosphere of concern and uncertainty created by the pandemic. This partnership is a strong reflection of the courage, passion and sense of responsibility that Abdi İbrahim has championed for generations," he said.

"We are experiencing the pride of realizing a dream for our country and sector"

Emphasizing that as a representative of a family that has served the Turkish pharmaceutical industry for three generations he is experiencing the pride of realizing a dream not only for Abdi İbrahim but also for his country and sector, Nezih Barut said Abdi İbrahim has been in commercial relations with OM Pharma since 1996, and that parts of the company's medicines have been produced at Abdi İbrahim facilities for many years. Nezih Barut said, "Turkish industry has the power to make a difference in the world not only in pharmaceuticals but in every field with its advanced human resources, production experience and entrepreneurial potential. In establishing this partnership, our long-standing trust-based collaborations with many global pharmaceutical companies, the excellence of our production facilities at world standards, our trained human resources, our investments in research and development, our innovative perspective and our commitment to pharmaceutical growth were influential," he said.

"Our access to new markets like China and the US will accelerate"

Noting that with the partnership Abdi İbrahim will carry out many new projects in synergy with OM Pharma, Nezih Barut stated that they plan to produce certain products from OM Pharma's chemical medicine portfolio for the entire world at their Esenyurt facilities. Emphasizing that the manufactured products will be exported to world markets, Nezih Barut announced that the partnership will particularly enable Abdi İbrahim's access to new markets where it is not yet present. Nezih Barut said, "Our partnership will accelerate our goal of entering new markets, especially with our biotechnology products, particularly in Latin America, China and US pharmaceutical markets. We will have the opportunity to benefit from OM Pharma's experience in these markets. Similarly, OM Pharma will reach Middle Eastern and North African countries where we are very active but have not been present until now through us. In addition, with our strengthened global company identity, new career opportunities will be created abroad for our qualified human resources. Similarly, as a country, especially in the biotechnology field, we will have the opportunity to close our expertise and know-how gap through the opportunities this synergy offers," he said.

"We have allocated CHF 250 million to develop biotechnology medicines"

Emphasizing that one of Abdi İbrahim's most important motivations in the partnership is biotechnology, Nezih Barut said, "We have long insisted that the real locomotive in the pharmaceutical sector is biotechnology and warned that we should not miss this train as a country. With our AbdiBio biotechnology medicine production facility, we have implemented an important investment supporting our message. Now, in OM Pharma's new era, we are allocating a serious research and development budget of CHF 250 million (approximately TRY 2,100 million) for developing biotechnology medicines and clinical studies. This is a development that supports our growth and company value strategy and is extremely exciting for us," he said.