Under the proposal upheld by the shareholders, Russian-owned CNMT will buy EUR 10.8m worth of claims to Galex from creditors. It will then transfer them as an in-kind contribution to recapitalise Galex.

CNMT has recently acquired a 8.3% stake in Galex from minor shareholders, offering a symbolic sum of one euro for the block of shares.

The CNMT's proposal was also backed by the biggest single shareholder of Galex, the municipality-owned pharmacy chain Pomurske lekarne. This is despite recently declining to sell its 22.66% stake to CNMT.

Galex boss Sašo Zidar commented that the endorsed recapitalisation proposal was thought to be a better and faster solution than an initial proposal for a fresh issue of shares, which he said could end in a failure.

The solution would enable the company to get rid of debts, while the new partner would secure the money to meet daily liabilities, debt to non-secured creditors and from court-mandated debt restructuring.

CNMT is owned by Aleksey Andreev from Moscow, known to be active in construction and real estate, while he is not thought to be connected to any pharmaceutical group.

The investor has promised to keep up production and after some time expand into new markets and new product lines.

Galex manufactures herbal products, food supplements, cosmetics and medical devices, while it has suspended production of high blood pressure drug Perindopril over granulate supply problems.

The company started developing the generic in 2007, but run into troubles after a big French buyer went bust and the company was saddled with debts it could no longer pay off.