South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare to sell women's health product in Europe to Ennogen

By Nqobile Dludla

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 2 (Reuters) - South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare will sell the European commercialisation rights and related intellectual property for its women's health product Ovestin to Ennogen Healthcare International for €197 million ($220 million), it said on Monday.

• Europe-focused Ennogen will also buy related inventory valued at about €4 million, Aspen said

• As part of the deal, Aspen and Ennogen have long-term supply agreements under which Aspen will continue manufacturing and supplying the active pharmaceutical ingredient and cream formulation of Ovestin in Europe for at least 10 years

• The agreement forms part of Aspen's strategy to unlock value from assets outside its core focus on emerging markets

• Aspen will also provide strategic support services to Ennogen for five years for a fee of €1 million per month, and transitional services for up to three years to facilitate the transfer of the business

• Ovestin generated revenue of about 756 million rand ($45 million) and profit after tax of 238 million rand in Aspen's 2026 financial year

• The company said proceeds from the transaction would be subject to its capital allocation strategy, with share buybacks remaining its preferred method of returning capital to shareholders

($1 = 0.8948 euros)

($1 = 16.6981 rand)

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Jan Harvey)