When Oliver Windholz became Ratiopharm’s chief executive in April 2008, he knew he had embarked on a tough mission: the world’s fourth largest generic drugmaker was reeling from high management fluctuation, price pressure and the aftershock of a loss of German market leadership a few years earlier.

But only half a year later, he was facing even more troubles. The Merckle family, founder of Ratiopharm, ran into financial difficulties and was eventually forced to hand over most of its vast industrial empire to the banks.