RPT-UPDATE 1-Poland's Bioton shelves Indar buy, eyes options

Polish insulin maker Bioton BOTN.WA has suspended its attempt to take control of Ukraine's Indar after learning the Ukrainian state has lost control over the stake it was seeking to buy, it said on Tuesday.

Bioton, one of Europe's largest producers of recombined human insulin, has been looking to expand its presence in growing markets such as Ukraine and said in February it wanted to double its stake in Indar to 60 percent.

The confusion around the Ukrainian state-controlled insulin maker's ownership presents Bioton with a second setback in its attempts to raise its stake. The news weighed on Bioton's share price.

Bioton said in a statement the Ukrainian government's stake in Indar had been transferred to Gerist Invest Limited but Ukrainian authorities were taking action to retake control of the firm.

"(Bioton) suspends actions aimed at taking control of Indar until the legal situation of Indar shares is resolved," Bioton added.

The Polish bio-pharmaceutical firm has been eyeing the Ukrainian government's stake in Indar for over a year, but Kiev removed it from a list of companies to be privatised in the run-up to a parliamentary election last September.

At the time, Bioton officials said they hoped the Ukrainian government would reverse its decision.
Bioton's shares closed flat on Tuesday, at 0.84 zlotys, underperforming Warsaw's large-cap WIG20 index .WIG20, which closed up 4.1 percent.

The company's stock has fallen 18 percent this year, after shedding 60 percent last year, since Bioton swung to an unexpected loss in the fourth-quarter.

"PLAN B"

The company faces growing worries over its ability to follow through on its expansion plans, but Bioton Chief Executive Adam Wilczega told Reuters it was prepared to alter its strategy.

"We're preparing a 'plan B', since we don't know how long it will take to sort this out," Wilczega said. "We're launching talks about distributing our Polish-made insulin in Ukraine."

"If we were to take over Indar, then entering the Ukrainian market with our own product would be inadvisable. Now we want to prepare for this (option) as fast as possible," Wilczega added.

He added there was no final decision, but if the issue wasn't cleared up in a transparent manner and quickly, Bioton could not rule out getting rid of its minority stake in Indar.

Prokom Investments, an investment vehicle of Polish tycoon Ryszard Krauze, holds a 38 percent stake in Bioton. (Reporting by Pawel Bernat, writing by Marynia Kruk)
Source: www.reuters.com