drugmaker

Family business roundup: German drugmaker and Canadian holding company see growth

September 14, 2012

The family behind Canada’s Empire Company has seen an increase in revenues for the first quarter of the fiscal year, while Germany’s Grunenthal has been buoyed by a huge rise in its half-yearly earnings.

Empire, the holding company controlled by the Sobey family, said on 13 September that sales for the three months ending 4 August rose by 9.7% to $4.56 billion (€3.5 billion).

German family business seeks Latin American investments

January 12, 2012

Drugmaker Grünenthal is looking to “invest big” in Latin America and has $1.3 billion (€1.01 billion) to spend on acquisitions “in the near future”, according to the company’s chief executive officer.

Harald Stock told Bloomberg that the family business, based in Aachen, Germany, wants to expand its painkiller operations in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Mexico.