{"id":848867,"date":"2026-01-28T17:08:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=848867"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:08:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:08:48","slug":"two-south-africans-who-made-it-big-in-australia-now-selling-their-business-for-r26-5-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/848867\/two-south-africans-who-made-it-big-in-australia-now-selling-their-business-for-r26-5-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Two South Africans who made it big in Australia \u2013 now selling their business for R26.5 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gus Attridge and Stephen Saad founded a pharmaceutical company in Australia almost three decades ago, and it is now being sold for R26.5 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Saad<\/a> was born in June 1964 and grew up in Durban. He attended Durban High School and later studied at the University of Natal, where he completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to obtain a postgraduate diploma in accounting in 1986, qualifying as a chartered accountant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1980s, Saad joined Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC), where he completed his articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While working there, he was exposed to the pharmaceutical industry through consulting work for a small healthcare company, which sparked his interest in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was at Coopers & Lybrand that Saad met Gus Attridge, who would later become his long-term business partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Guy Attridge<\/a>, commonly known as Gus since his school days, was born in May 1961 and was also raised in Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He attended Northwood School and later completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Natal in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added diplomas in accounting and data analytics before qualifying as a chartered accountant. Like Saad, he trained at Coopers & Lybrand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attridge built a strong career at the firm and later moved to London, where he worked in corporate finance during the late 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work focused on mergers, acquisitions, and advisory services, which gave him deep experience in deal-making and financial strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this time, he worked closely with Saad, often as his senior, and the two developed a strong professional relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1989, Saad left accounting to join Quickmed CC, a small medical wholesale business in Durban that served township markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This move gave him hands-on experience in pharmaceutical distribution and healthcare supply, which proved critical later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The birth of Aspen Pharmacare<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1997, Saad and Attridge co-founded Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa. The company was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and steadily expanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, Aspen became the largest producer of generic medicines in Africa. Saad took on the role of chief executive, while Attridge served as deputy chief executive and a board member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aspen\u2019s move into Australia followed a few years later. Around the early 2000s, the group invested R10 million in seed capital to establish a business there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to investors last week, Saad said<\/a> he and Attridge arrived in Australia in their 30s with that single cheque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They bought a small number of products, hired two people, and purchased two laptops. One of those early hires, Trevor Ziman, remains with Aspen today as regional CEO for Asia Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early days were uncertain. After returning to South Africa, analysts warned them that South African companies usually failed in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Aspen was extremely cautious. The business was kept very small, with most functions outsourced in case they needed to exit quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the second day in Australia, both laptops were stolen, an incident Saad later described as making them seriously question whether they should continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They did continue, and over time, the Australian business grew steadily. Aspen eventually became the largest generics company in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saad has said that one in every five medicines dispensed in the country was an Aspen product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulatory changes and pricing pressure later made the market more difficult, forcing the team to adapt by divesting some products and changing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Aspen\u2019s Australian team has focused on building its over-the-counter medicines business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past five years were particularly challenging, but the company succeeded in becoming a top-five OTC player in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saad has repeatedly stressed that Aspen has never asked shareholders for additional capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has never done a rights offer and has funded its growth internally, while actively managing its portfolio through acquisitions and divestments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, Aspen received an unsolicited offer from private equity firm BGH Capital for its Asia-Pacific assets, excluding China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offer valued the business at A$2.37 billion, or about R26.5 billion. Aspen accepted the offer and plans to use most of the proceeds to reduce debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Aspen Pharmacare Australia is headquartered in Sydney and operates a significant manufacturing facility in Dandenong, Victoria, supplying more than 150 branded, generic, and over-the-counter medicines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gus Attridge and Stephen Saad started a pharmaceutical company in Australia almost three decades ago, and that company is now being sold for R26.5 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":848866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[6193,2097,24604,853],"class_list":["post-848867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-aspen-pharmacare","tag-australia","tag-gus-attridge-and-stephen-saad","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849186,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848867\/revisions\/849186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}