There have been changes in the ownership of the Swedish pharmacy company half-owned by Oriola. The Lithuanian owner of the other half has sold its stake in the Swedish pharmacy company from the Euroapotheca Group, which operated pharmacy activities, to another group company. Euroapotheca retained the Baltic pharmacy operations, and the ownership of the Swedish pharmacy company it held has been transferred to a Dutch holding company of the Lithuanian group’s parent company. Following these arrangements, this holding company also includes the Lithuanian group parent company’s grocery store businesses in Poland and Bulgaria. From a business perspective, the ownership of the half of the Swedish pharmacy company is now in a rather unusual holding company.
From Oriola’s perspective, the interesting part of the matter is the price at which the half-ownership of the Swedish pharmacy company was sold. Based on the companies’ financial statements and announcements, the price for the half-stake in the Swedish pharmacy company in the transaction was approximately 200 million euros, which is at the same level as the value of the half-share of the pharmacy company on Oriola’s balance sheet.
Everyone can evaluate in their own silos whether the Lithuanian group’s internal transaction was made at fair value. In this case, the fair value of the purchase price, 200 million euros, is supported by the fact that when determining the purchase price, factors such as financiers’ assessments and the requirements of both the Lithuanian and Dutch tax authorities had to be taken into account. Selling assets at a potential overprice from Lithuania to the Netherlands, thereby realizing potential future losses in a Dutch holding company, would also be an unusual operating model. On these grounds, it can be reasonably estimated that the fair value of Oriola’s ownership stake in the Swedish pharmacy company would also be 200 million euros.