...- Pharma company Nidda BondCo GmbH (Stada) has announced it plans to purchase Takeda's over-the-counter (OTC) portfolio of drugs in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as Walmark, a central European manufacturer of consumer health products. - Stada will finance these acquisitions by raising an additional 760 million of senior secured debt. - The company also posted a strong operational performance above our expectations in 2019, underpinned by strong sales of key products across Europe, cost saving measures and new product launches. - We are therefore affirming our 'B+' ratings on Stada; the recovery ratings are unchanged. - The outlook remains negative, reflecting our view of the company's increasing appetite for acquisitions and heighted execution risks due to increasing exposure to Russia and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) countries, which we view as more volatile from profit and working capital management perspectives. - This could hamper Stada's ability to...
