Nizhfarm moved to the temporary department of Farmirus LLC
The business of the second in Russia in terms of retail sales of Nizhfarma drugs (until November 2023 belonged to the German Stada), a manufacturer of demanded drugs, including, in particular, Aqualor, Snup, Cardiomagnil, transferred to the temporary management of the Farmirus LLC, which was well known in the market. The owner of the latter is Anna Zalogina, who worked in the structures of the « R-Farma », another major pharmaceutical producer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin April 4 signed a decree On the transfer of LLC « Farmirus » to the temporary management of 100% of the shares of Nizhfarm JSC, which are on the balance of the Luxembourg Nidda Lynx. This is one of the largest drug manufacturers in Russia, he produces at two of his factories in Nizhny Novgorod and Obninsk (Kaluga region), in particular, Aqualor’s nose washing, the Snup slander, a drug against Cardiomagnil thrombosis.
According to the company itself, its grocery portfolio includes more than 120 drugs.
According to the analytical company DSM Group, in 2024 the total volume of Nizhfarma retail sales amounted to 59.8 billion rubles. This allowed the company to take the second line in the top 20 manufacturers of medicines in the Russian Federation for the retail market, losing to the German Bayer.
The last reporting of Nizhfarma was dated 2020. Then the revenue of the pharmaceutical producer was at the level of 39 billion rubles., Pure loss – 2.9 billion rubles.
The new temporary manager of the Nizhfarma business is not particularly known in the pharmaceutical market. According to SPARK, Pharmirus was created in 2020 by Anna Poglogina for the sale of medicines. According to the results of 2024, the company’s revenue amounted to 1.1 billion rubles, net profit – 18 million rubles. From open sources it is known that Mrs. Zagogina is the wife of Ivan Zalogin, who headed the Department of Health of the Belgorod and Oryol regions at different times. From the same sources it follows that she worked for a long time in the structures of the “R-Farma”, one of the largest suppliers in the framework of the state order. This company was created by Alexei Repict, who now leads the public organization « Business Russia ».
In Farmirus, “Kommersant” did not answer the questions “Kommersant”. Nidda Lynx could not be contacted.
According to SPARK, Nidda Lynx belongs to Nidda Topko through a chain of legal entities, which, in turn, indirectly owns Nidda Healthcare GmbH. The last company manages 50% Stada Arzneimittel AG. The Stada said “Kommersant” that they no longer own “Nizhfarm”, so they cannot comment on the process.
Nizhfarm was informed Kommersant that they did not receive official notifications about the transfer of shares of Farmirus. The pharmaceutical producer expects official explanations and continues to work.
Until November 2023, Nizhfarm was a subsidiary of the German Stada. As Kommersant reported in June 2024 by Nizhfarma CEO of Oksana Pozdnyakova, Stada allocated a Russian business from its group “In order to give him more independence.”
The managing partner of the Sapozhnikov and Partners Yurfire, Alexei Sapozhnikov, does not exclude that one of the reasons for the transfer of Nizhfarma for external control can be associated with a confusing chain of ownership of Nidda Lynx. This situation will remain until the final beneficiary of the Luxembourg company is clarified, the expert excludes. It provides Nordstat data (the European database of legal entities), according to which Nidda Lynx was created in 2023, and the persons managing this structure are engaged in the same companies.
Temporary management is also introduced in relation to assets of paramount importance, including for stable operation of critical production, states the managing partner of the Kamenskaya and Partners, Tatyana Kamenskaya. At the same time, after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, the pharmaceutical industry in the Russian Federation, unlike other industries, did not fall under Western sanctions. Almost all foreign companies, with the exception of the American Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb, remained on the Russian market (see “Kommersant” dated March 28, 2023).
The case with Nizhfarm was unexpected for the “Kommersant” market experts. “It seemed that Stada and Nizhfarm quite calmly reorganized their business in Russia in the conditions of sanctions restrictions,” said Nikolai Bespalov, development director of RNC PHARNA. But judging by the fact that the temporary administration was introduced, the risk associated with the presence of foreign control over the company significant for the Russian economy was left, the lawyer Natalia Vokvlesko concludes.
