Further to the announcement made on 20 November 2007, Aspen is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Aspen Global Incorporated (“Global”) has agreed revised terms with Strides Arcolab Limited (“Strides”), a pharmaceutical company registered in the Republic of India, in respect of certain aspects of Global’s acquisition of an interest in Strides’ Latin American operations (“the Latam Operations”). The revised terms provide for the acquisition of a further 1% in the Latam Operations with immediate effect as well as a revision of the put and call options previously concluded.
Hereafter this is referred to as “the Transaction”.
With effect from 1 March 2008, Global acquired a 50% interest in the Latam Operations for an initial investment of US$152.5 million. Global will now acquire an additional 1% interest in the Latam Operations via the acquisition of shares from Strides for US$ 2.8 million. Global will thereby acquire management control. In terms of the agreement Global will also acquire the rights to 100% of the profits and dividends of the Latam Operations.
In terms of the revised put and call options, Global has the right to acquire, and Strides has the right to sell to Global, Strides’ remaining 49% interest in the Latam Operations based on multiples of the EBITDA for the year ending 30 June 2009. The multiples are such that the effective purchase consideration for the entire share capital of the Latam Operations will amount to 9.32 times the EBITDA up to US$11.94 million plus 11.18 times the EBITDA over US$11.94 million. The maximum total effective consideration remains at US$ 333.5 million and would be payable if an EBITDA of US$31.8 million is achieved. The EBITDA is subject to adjustment such that it excludes the results of new acquisitions.
The Transaction will be funded from existing cash resources.
