The report is available in English with a French summary - KCE

34 Plasma KCE Reports 120
PROFILE 4: TRADITIONAL PRIVATE FIRMS (US FIRMS: BAXTER, TALECRIS)
These firms’ capital structure is more traditional, as their capital is owned by private
stakeholders (eg: Telecris is owned by private equity groups Cerberus Partners and
Ampersand Ventures).
In may 2009, CSL tried to take over the US firm Talecris mentioned above. However,
the US Federal Trade Commission recommended legal actions to block the purchase of
Talecris by CSL, on antitrust grounds. US public authorities, especially the new
American administration, seems to keep a vigilant eye on this industry, especially on
merging of business, whenever it is apt to have an impact on the American
Main learnings for decision-makers:
• The capital ownership of the leading global firms of the plasma
fractionation industry is unlikely to evolve over the next years and this
industry, in today’s form, seems to be blocked.
• Restructuring of the plasma fractionation industry: the recent merging of
businesses and the increasing weight of each firm (considered individually)
can be seen as a rather negative evolution for the purchasers’ negotiation
power.
Key points
• The recent merging of businesses has involved a high concentration of
fractionation activities. Given this context, the negotiation power of
purchasers (disregarding public or private status) is getting weaker.
• In the context of a global fractionation industry, any change in the
prescription habits or authorization of drugs of one country is apt to have an
impact on the production flows of any other country. Great attention must
be paid to the US policy on that point.
2.2.3 The supply of plasma stable derivatives in Belgium
2.2.3.1 Who are the suppliers
The plasma collected by the Belgian Red Cross Blood Services - source plasma (SP) as
well as recovered plasma (RP) - is sent to CAF-DCF for fractionation b . CAF-DCF is the
exclusive manufacturer of plasma derivatives based on plasma collected in Belgium. All
locally produced derivatives are intended to be used within the country. The CAF-DCF
was historically an integral part of the Belgian Red Cross up to the 23 December 1997.
From that date, the independent CAF-DCF was set up as a cooperative company with
limited liability. Today the owners of the shares are:
• the Sanquin Bloodsupply Foundation (Nl) 50.02%,
• the Laboratoire français du fractionnement et des biotechnologies, LFB
(Fr), a limited company created in July 2005 and fully owned by the French
State 24.99% and
• the Belgian Red Cross 24.99%.
Besides that, CAF-DCF has signed a cooperation contract with the German company
Biotest for the fractionation of intermediate plasma products into immunoglobulins.
CAF-DCF also fractionates for international firms, its total fractionation capacity is
centered between 500.000 and 550.000 kilo of plasma
b Except for a limited amount that is transformed into fresh frozen plasma, used to treat specific
hemorrhagic situations and some coagulation disorders