ICN Gets 54% Stake in Bulgarian Company

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., the biggest drug maker in Eastern Europe, bought 54% of Bulgaria’s Biovet, which produced pharmaceutical products for animals, said a spokesman for the Bulgarian government’s Privatization Agency, the body responsible for asset sales.

Costa Mesa-based ICN will pay $13.6 million for the stake and will invest $10 million over five years in the new company, to be called ICN Biovet. ICN also plans to set up a marketing center in the Bulgarian capital Sofia to target overseas markets.