Owens & Minor plans to acquire Movianto Group, a European healthcare 3PL

Owens & Minor (Richmond, VA), a leading healthcare-products distributor, primarily to acute-care facilities, in the US, stepped into the pharmaceutical-distribution arena a couple years ago by opening O&M Healthcare Logistics, which has been growing at a healthy clip, according to company sources. Now, it is broadening that activity by offering to acquire Movianto Group, a third-party logistics unit of Celesio AG (Stuttgart, Germany). Purchase price is $158 million, and the acquisition will be finalized after the European regulatory review is completed. Celesio, a leading European drug wholesaler and chain pharmacy, also recently announced the sale of Pharmexx, a pharma contract sales and marketing organization, to Ireland’s United Drug PLC (Dublin).

According to company statements, O&M will combine its Healthcare Logistics unit with Movianto, which has 23 facilities in 11 European countries, and 1,800 employees; no consolidation is planned, and O&M and Celesio “also intend to explore mutually beneficial projects in distribution and logistics in the healthcare markets.” Like O&M Healthcare Logistics, Movianto provides warehousing, transportation and cold chain services, along with value-added services like order-to-cash, repackaging and relabeling.