Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ex-CEO Hassan Joins Warburg Pincus -- So, No Pharma Seat/Non-Compete


Peter Loftus, for Dow/WSJ, reports that Fred Hassan will advise the private equity firm -- in what Hassan calls "generalist" matters -- on behalf of clients. Okay. Check that.

. . . .Hassan told Dow Jones Newswires he would advise the firm on deals in a variety of industries. "I'm seen as a generalist," he said. . . .

Why did he say that? Well, because -- as you can readily see, Warburg Pincus' single largest investing sector is health-care, nearly double its next largest sector (click to enlarge):

And, of course, although the announcement places him in Warburg's Healthcare Group, Fred cannot advise on any Merck-competitive situations involving more than $10 million in annual revenue -- for a year -- if he wants to keep his perhaps $178 million in 'chutes. And he does. I guarantee it.

4 comments:

Pharma Conduct Guy said...

Hi Condor, you might enjoy this one PharmaConduct: A Rocketship Made Out of Wood.

Condor said...

Cool!

Sweet graphic!

Namaste

Pharma Conduct Guy said...

Receiving a compliment about graphics from you is like having Chuck Norris say "That was a great roundhouse kick." I'm floating in the endorphin rush. ;-)

Pharma Conduct Guy said...

By the way, regarding non-compete agreements and ethics, you raise a really good point here. I had a situation once where a non-compete restricted me from taking several positions, and, despite my total awesomeness, I am guessing that I had less influence on the organizations where I have worked than Fred.

Also, I didn't have nearly as large a severance package to “help me get by”, but an attorney I consulted recommended that I 1)either wait out the consulting period, or 2)if I take a job, take one that where there will be no question whatsoever as to whether I am infringing. Non-competes are supposed to make sure that highly placed, key people do not harm a company that they are leaving, not prevent ordinary people from changing jobs. Between at-will employment laws, non-competes, and health care constraints, little guys sure have the deck stacked against them.