ECONOMIC INTERPENETRATION / (eu) pharmaceuticals

British food processing group ABF - ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS (turnover £4.4 billion in 2001 with 34,000 employed) has acquired 43% of the dietetics and functional nutrition business (mainly the brand "Ovomaltine") of the Swiss group NOVARTIS (turnover CHF 32 billion in 2001 with 74,000 employed) for the sum of around EUR 273 million. The share acquired by ABF represents 874 workers and a turnover of EUR 244 million out of the 567 million recorded by the branch in 2001. NOVARTIS intends to...