Viatris Global Treasury team takes global transformation to next level

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Viatris Global Treasury team takes global transformation to next level

Published: Sep 2025

Treasury Today’s Top Treasury Team

Overall Winner

Viatris Inc.

Photo of Ciaran Fegan, Viatris, Ambareen Morshed, J.P. Morgan, Denis Maricq, Sara Csizmazia, Elena Facchinetti, Roman Roland and Keith Lynch, Viatris and David Nugent, Citi.

USA

Viatris Inc. is a global healthcare company headquartered in the US, with global centres in Pittsburgh, Shanghai and Hyderabad, India.

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The Viatris Global Treasury team has powered transformation growth ever since the pharmaceutical company was formed in 2020 following the merger of Mylan N.V. and Upjohn, Pfizer Inc.’s off-patent branded and generic established medicines business. Treasury at Viatris has played a key role integrating and improving the Company’s efficiency, supporting the divestment of non‑core assets and reinvesting to drive future growth.

In 2024, Viatris was a Highly Commended Winner in the Best Treasury Transformation Project category and winner of the award for the Best Foreign Exchange Solution category in 2023. Since then, the Viatris Treasury team has continued to build upon this transformation and completed projects across several key areas. These include:

Building a Treasury Centre of Excellence (COE) centralising treasury functions within Viatris’ global shared services organisation. This improved standardisation and efficiency while freeing resources for other critical tasks. Key COE functions include short-term cash flow/liquidity forecasting, bank account management, working capital forecasting, treasury analytics, FX exposure identification, transaction settlement and others.

Reducing leverage by repaying >US$10bn debt consisting of scheduled 2021 to 2024 maturities and a US$1.9bn liability management exercise, including bond tender, make-whole call and satisfaction and discharge, during Q324. From 2021-2025 Viatris’ projected interest expense should decrease by ~US$175m, improving profitability and cash flow conversion.

Centralising foreign exchange risk management and transforming a manual FX process with limited coverage to an automated standardised process covering the entire company. Key changes include implementing FireApps automated exposure reporting, creating a cash flow hedging process covering euro, yen and renminbi that significantly offset currency headwinds and P&L volatility, implementing back office processes to confirm and record trades, onboarding resources in the Treasury COE to support new processes, implementing new global policies, and tracking results to identify, report and reduce variances and risks.

Optimising cash pooling and bank account management through centralised user-friendly dashboard tracking daily cash across nearly 1,000 bank accounts, 100 banking relationships and 300 legal entities. Shifted significant cash from operating entities to global treasury pools thereby reducing minimum cash required to operate its business, closed approximately one-third of bank accounts and terminated ~20 banking relationships. This approach has centralised cash, improved visibility, control and investment returns while increasing financial flexibility for deleveraging, business development and share repurchases.

Forecasting cash flow and net working capital in partnership with commercial/operations finance and global business services. This has improved near‑term direct and long-term indirect cash forecasting. Near‑term direct forecasts cover >70 entities with ~90% of third‑party cash flow. Automated tools and dashboards simplify tracking of actuals vs forecast, enabling prompt decision‑making and reducing forecasting time by ~20%.

Optimising cash and working capital through a treasury led project in partnership with commercial and operations finance, procurement, global business services, tax, supply chain and other functions to identify >US$1bn of net working capital improvements that enabled the company to achieve annual cash flow targets and meet debt repayment commitments despite operating headwinds.

Integrating Corporate Insurance across major programmes including Directors and Officers (D&O), Property and Business Interruption, Product Liability and Cyber. Both legacy companies had very different programmes and approaches to risk. Over a multi-year period combined programmes, standardised deductibles and base agreements to better manage risk and lower consolidated premiums.

Intercompany netting using Coprocess to automate invoice matching, settling and clearance within the ERP while reducing FX risk and manual processing.

PwC, EY, Citi, J.P. Morgan, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, ING, Barclays, FIS, Coprocess and Kyriba collaborated in the transformation projects.

Truly global team working together

The accomplishments from the Viatris Treasury team are truly global, encompassing the Americas, EMEA, APAC and emerging markets. Various facets of work were completed by teams based in each region collaborating across the company alongside other supporting functions including tax, accounting, procurement, financial shared services, supply chain and commercial and operations finance. The chart below illustrates how the various treasury subfunctions – each including colleagues from the Treasury COE – collaborated to deliver the key projects referred to below.

Key projects	FX risk management	Cash flow & net working capital forecasting	Capital markets	Global treasury operations	Risk management
Create COE	X			X
Reduce leverage		X	X
FX solution	X			X
Cash pooling	X			X
Cash forecasting		X	X	X
Cash optimisation		X		X
Insurance integration					X
Intercompany netting	X			X

“The treasury team we have built has truly driven our transformation,” said John Miraglia, Head of Global Treasury, Viatris. “Our global footprint has also allowed us to source talent from around the world and develop regional expertise in complex markets including India and China. On labour-intensive projects requiring local knowledge – including our cash pooling and cash optimisation work – having colleagues in Asia, Europe and the Americas has helped us build relationships between our operating entities and partner functions and incorporate regional best practices.”

Clear goals to achieve best practice

Viatris’ goal throughout this journey was to leverage data while establishing centralised and standardised processes with strong governance. Actions were taken across best practice areas, including leveraging technology, maximising liquidity and streamlining and standardisation.

“Our focus on global cash management, liquidity planning and FX risk enabled treasury to quickly identify idle or inefficient cash and trigger actions accordingly. We established a ‘Cash Task Force’ that uses this data to drive actions to improve cash efficiencies,” says Miraglia.

The company identified dormant bank accounts or accounts that are deemed inefficient to drive appropriate actions. This positioned cash in the central cash pools to be utilised more effectively. There was also a more effective drive on the Company’s FX risk management strategy and a reduction in volatility on the P&L. The improvements in free cash flow and available liquidity supported Viatris’ corporate goal of reducing debt and leverage to achieve its long-term target.

With the launch of the Treasury COE, Viatris focused on enabling full alignment and transparency surrounding the newly formed processes that established clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the team with cross coverage to enable continuity; clearly defined standard operating procedures; and, step-by-step desktop procedures to facilitate continuity in a time of potential disruption.

Treasury teams deliver multiple benefits

Cost savings.
Headcount savings.
Process efficiencies.
Increased automation.
Risk mitigation.
Improved visibility.
Number of banks/bank accounts reduced.
Manual intervention and errors reduced.
Increased system connectivity.
Improved key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.

Following initial integration and creation of the Treasury COE, Viatris realised overall double-digit synergies vs the combined treasury costs of the two legacy entities. Since then, it has achieved additional benefits which include:

Risk mitigation – significantly improved its FX hedging process and standardised global insurance programmes to improve coverage – for example by increasing standard coverage of business interruption at contract manufacturers which provide a significant portion of global product supply.

Process efficiencies – significant increase in automation allowing broader coverage and more frequent updates of cash flow forecasts, monthly deep dives into sources and drivers of FX gain/loss, hedge exposure identification and other areas.

Cash optimisation – as noted global treasury was the global coordinator for working capital initiatives spanning accounts receivable, accounts payable, VAT and other areas which reduced working capital by >US$1bn from 2021-2024.

Headcount savings – eliminated/consolidated multiple positions in treasury, the COE and across the finance organisation due to improved process standardisation and automation.

Treasury team structure and locations

The Viatris Global Treasury team is split roughly equally between colleagues in ‘core’ treasury functions and the Treasury Centre of Excellence within its Global Business Services (shared services) function. The team is spread throughout the world with concentrations at the global headquarters in Pittsburgh and Hyderabad, India, as well as in offices in Dublin, Budapest and Dalian.

“The global team has been fully transformed with the successful onboarding of experienced treasury professionals in key regions including Singapore, China, Hungary, India and Switzerland all with varying roles and responsibilities,” concludes Keith Lynch, Senior Director, Treasury Centre of Excellence.

Key treasury sub-functions include Capital Markets, FX Risk Management and Special Projects, Cash Flow and Net Working Capital Forecasting/Optimisation, Global Treasury Operations and Global Risk Management (ie, third party and captive insurance) with teams in ‘core’ treasury supported by the COE. The accomplishments highlighted are the result of contributions from every team member across all sub-functions from both ‘core’ treasury and the COE supported by global finance, operating and commercial partners across Viatris. Since the company’s formation the treasury team has provided critical support to key global initiatives.

Over and above the challenges of integrating and divesting the various businesses while continuing to successfully manage financial risk and support operations, The Viatris Global Treasury team has completely transformed its contribution to the company.

Over the last four years, the team has played a key role in the integration of two diverse global organisations, divesting five global non-core businesses, driving high value projects to increase free cash flow by >US$1bn and realising other key accomplishments.

Toks Sotande-Peters

Global Relationship Director, Barclays International Corporate Bank

Barclays is honoured to celebrate the Viatris treasury team for their nomination as one of this year’s Top Treasury Teams. This recognition highlights their exceptional progress in transforming treasury operations, including their award-winning advancements in FX execution. Since its formation through the combination of Mylan N.V. and Pfizer’s UpJohn business, Viatris has demonstrated unwavering commitment to building a world-class treasury function. Operating in approximately 165 countries, the team has leveraged deep-in house expertise and strategic partnership, including Barclays, to navigate complex global challenges while advancing their mission to deliver affordable, quality medicines to patients worldwide. We are proud to support Viatris on this journey and congratulate them on this well-deserved milestone.

in partnership with

Maureen O’Driscoll Freeman

Managing Director, Treasury & Trade Solutions, Global Solution Sales, Citi

Eugene Yermash

CFA, Managing Director, Healthcare Corporate Banking, Citi

Viatris has undergone a remarkable transformation of its treasury operations and its global treasury team. Citi is happy to have collaborated with Viatris for almost 20 years and is excited for what the future may hold as their transformative journey continues. Viatris’ Global Treasury and Treasury Centre of Excellence (COE) teams continue to work together to help improve cash management, increase interest income and reduce organisational complexity. Viatris’ forward-thinking leadership and centralised processes and solutions further cement their position as an industry leader in banking best practices and Citi is delighted to accompany Viatris in this journey.

in partnership with

Shelly Yen

Executive Director, Head of Life Sciences, J.P. Morgan Payments

Viatris’ was formed in 2020 through the strategic merger of Mylan N.V. and Pfizer’s UpJohn business with >US$18bn revenues, US$25bn debt, and operations in 165 countries and territories. Since then, Viatris has embarked on an ambitious treasury transformation journey with Global Treasury serving as a pivotal force in driving integration, enhancing efficiencies, divesting non-core assets and strategically positioning the company for future growth. Among its impressive achievements, Viatris established a cutting-edge Treasury Center of Excellence (COE) centralising and automating treasury functions, improving standardization, and freeing resources for strategic tasks. Viatris reduced leverage by repaying >US$10bn of debt resulting in a US$175m reduction in interest expenses, thereby significantly boosting profitability and cash flow conversion. These transformative accomplishments underscore Viatris Global Treasury’s unwavering commitment to driving substantial value creation and expertly positioning the company for sustained future growth. Congratulations to the Viatris team from all of us at J.P. Morgan. Your achievements are a testament to your strategic vision and execution excellence.

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The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2025 awards attracted 454 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards

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