Alvogen Executive Chairman Robert Wessman and his associates, accompanied by U.S. Embassy officials, on Tuesday met behind closed doors with government representatives of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina which has a 19-percent interest in Bosnalijek.
According to the Bosnian daily, Alvogen executives wanted to receive assurances from the federal government that it would see to it that this privately-owned company acquired the government's stake in Bosnalijek before the Bosnian general elections set for 3 October.
On the other hand, the Alvogen representatives did not confirm their readiness to concede to the price of 22.03 convertible marks (approx. 11 euros) per share.
Earlier this week, Alvogen published a paid advertisement in the Bosnian media on its abiding by its plan to acquire a stake in Bosnalijek and make the Bosnian drug-maker its most important regional partner.
Bosnalijek is a joint stock company in which small shareholders, most of whom are company employees and investment funds, control 63.5 percent of its stock. Apart from the entity government, which holds 19 percent of Bosnalijek's shares, the second largest shareholder is the Investment Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank, with a 9-percent stake. The Libyan fund for economic and social development owns 8.8 percent of the Bosnalijek stock.
This April, following several months of negotiations with Alvogen, the entity government decided to put on the stock market its shares in Bosnalijek, together with a package of shares held by the IFC investment fund. The entire arrangement failed after Alvogen did not offer the expected price for the government's stake. The government offered its stake at the price of 22.03 convertible marks per share, expecting 33 million convertible marks for its package of 1.5 million shares. The privately-owned multinational company did not respond in the expected way.
Bosnalijek executives have been quoted by the local media as saying that they only want Alvogen to stick to the letter of intent it issued last December regarding this possible transaction.