Abraxis Bio Science ('Abraxis') have operated in Europe since 2008. The primary business in Europe was the distribution of the Abraxane cancer treatment that has been developed within the group. Abraxis established a network of sales and marketing operations throughout six European territories, being the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France and Spain. As well as providing marketing support to these operations the entities undertook to obtain the necessary licenses for the sale of the company’s product and co-ordinated distribution thereof via a third party provider. The European group, controlled via a holding entity in the Netherlands, was ultimately owned by a NASDAQ listed entity from the US, which was headquartered on the West Coast.
Fluency have provided Abraxis with accounting and administration services for the period since operations were established in Europe until the point where the group was disposed of in 2011. During that time Fluency not only completed the necessary administration, bookkeeping and payments to suppliers but have also been co-ordinated higher value added work that was specific to the circumstances of Abraxis such as:
- Liaison with the worldwide auditors regarding transfer pricing and the impact this had on the European operations. This has led to revisions of the European financial statements and the associated taxations thereof.
- A number of short notice accounting period closes as part of the sale process to very tight deadlines. These have been managed whilst incorporating a considerable number of revisions and reporting requirements.
- Facilitation of the preparation of the year end accounts including coordination with firms of accountants in each country along with the worldwide auditors to prepare the initial drafts and help to coordinate any adjustments arising during the audit process.
- Assistance with the transition of financial information to a shared service centre operated by the purchaser including translation of our data into a new account code structure and an orderly wind down of the operations of entities that are becoming dormant.
Abraxis were able to rely on the SOC 1 (formerly SAS 70) accreditation that Fluency had in place as a part both of their listing and the due diligence regarding the sale process. Mark Fox, the European Finance Director for Abraxis, commented that “Fluency have been there for us every step of the way as we established the business at short notice in Europe, grew considerably over our time operating as Abraxis and then transitioned across to the new structure following the purchase. Use of such an outsourcing model to undertake the day to day duties and assist with additional ad-hoc requirements has provided flexibility in dealing with challenges and demands allowing me to focus on the higher level issues and tasks were expected from an FD”.