French contract development and manufacturing organization Delpharm has announced it is in exclusive talks to buy five production sites from financially struggling Greek competitor Famar for around $250 million.

In the event of a deal, the French CDMO, which already has 12 sites across Europe, could pick up five more with 1,300 employees, in addition to a plant in North America. Negotiations concern the Athens-based company’s French sites in Orléans, Aigle and St-Rémy-sur-Avre, along with its site at Bladel, the Netherlands and its Pointe-Claire site in Quebec, Canada.

Delpharm’s president, Patrick Puy, said Famar’s board has agreed that the French competitor’s offer is in the best interest of the Greek firm’s five sites and their employees. Completion of the transaction, he said, “will allow the sites to enter into a new phase of sustainable and promising development.”

According to the Reuters news agency, Famar’s parent, the Marinopoulos Group, ran into financial problems several years ago. At the end of 2019, following an overextend acquisition phase, the CDMO completed a €174 million debt restructuring and received an infusion of cash from private equity group Pillarstone.

In early September this year, Delpharm completed its acquisition of a solid and liquid formulation plant at Segrate, Italy, from Roche from Pharma giant Roche for $274 million. As part of the deal, it agreed to supply the Swiss pharma giant from the facility. This was Delpharm’s second Italian acquisition.