Air Liquide announces the acquisition by its subsidiary Schülke, a specialist in hygiene and hospital disinfection, of Vic Pharma, a company operating in this sector in Brazil.

Founded in 1990, Vic Pharma is the second largest independent player in the Brazilian hygiene market and counts more than 100 employees. It offers a broad range of hygiene products for disinfecting surfaces, instruments and medical devices, as well as antiseptic solutions for pre- or post-operative care. Present mainly in the hospital and medical settings, the company generated revenue of around € 8 million in 2015. It distributes its product range to hospitals through a wide distribution network that covers the entire country.

The Group will call on the existing teams to pursue the deployment and distribution of Vic Pharma product lines, to which the Schülke hygiene product lines will gradually be added.

Thanks to this acquisition, made via a majority equity stake (75%), Air Liquide reinforces its position in the South American Healthcare market.

Pascal Vinet, Vice-President Global Healthcare Operations and member of Air Liquide group's Executive Committee, commented: 'With this acquisition Air Liquide Healthcare pursues the development of its Hygiene activity, extending its geographic reach to South America. The Group thus strengthens its Healthcare business in this region.'

Air Liquide Healthcare

supplies medical gases, home healthcare services, hygiene products, medical equipment and specialty ingredients. In 2014, it served over 7,500 hospitals and more than 1 million patients at home throughout the world. The Group's Healthcare business reached € 2,570 millionin revenues in 2014, with the support of its 12,000 employees.

Schülke in brief

Subsidiary of the Air Liquide group within the Healthcare activity and expert in hospital disinfection, Schülke designs and supplies since more than 125 years a wide range of disinfectants and antiseptics mainly for medical environment to actively contribute to patient safety. Present in 80 countries through its affiliates and network of distributors, Schülke employs over 900 people around the world, including 70 researchers. www.schuelke.com

Air Liquide SA issued this content on 04 February 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 05 February 2016 09:45:28 UTC

Original Document: https://www.airliquide.com/media/healthcare-air-liquide-announces-acquisition-hygiene-specialist-brazil