Bioton, the stock-listed producer of insulin, sold its 38 percent stake in Russian plant Bioton Wostok to Sanofi Aventis for euro 28 million. The transaction with the French company will probably have no effect on this year's results of Bioton due to the similar book value of its Russian investments.

"Apart from that, the terms of the contract with Sanofi indicate that cash will reach the Polish firm in Q1 2010," said Przemysław Sawala-Uryasz, analyst with UniCredit CAIB.

The sale of Bioton Wostok will not resolve all problems of the Polish enterprise as it still needs additional financing, but it will certainly enable it to limit its liabilities and thus lower the cost of managing its debts. The objective of the management board is to lower the debts to zł.164 million in 2009, while at the end of H1 the figure stood at zł.330 million. Bioton is also considering the disposal of other foreign ventures.

"We are still negotiating the sale of factories in India and Israel," said Andrzej Wilczęga, deputy president of Bioton.

Source: Parkiet