Omega Pharma mulls selling itself

Belgian healthcare products distributor Omega Pharma NV is considering selling itself more than two years after it was taken private by its founder, according to news reports. The sale of the company, based in Nazareth, East Flanders, could earn its owners more than $4 billion.

Omega Pharma, which sells prescription-free medicines, healthcare products and over-the-counter items such as wart treatments and sun tan lotions, was working with investment bank Morgan Stanley on the sale, and the process could start as early as this month, Bloomberg reported.

Omega Pharma founder and CEO Marc Coucke took the company private in February 2012 with his $1.1 billion takeover offer for the maker of painkiller Solpadeine. At the time, the deal valued the company at €848 million ($1.15 billion). If confirmed, it would follow deals by companies including Merck & Co, which raised $14.2 billion from selling its consumer-care unit in May. Omega Pharma’s operating profit climbed 11% in 2013 to €137.7 million a year earlier, according to the company’s annual report.