Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) yesterday made an offer for the generics division of German company Merck KgaA, considered to be the world's fourth largest generics company. The offers for the company are believed to be in the range of $5-6.5 billion.
Also bidding for the Merck KGaA division are Mylan Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: MYL), Iceland's Actavis Group HF (IC:ACT), and Indian company Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (BSE:500359). Another bidder from India is generic drug manufacturer Cipla, which is part of a consortium consisting primarily of private equity groups.
Another bidder for the German generics division is Apax Partners in collaboration with another private equity group Bain Capital. Apax is one of the controlling shareholders in Bezeq The Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) and it recently also acquired the controlling stake in Tnuva Food Industries Ltd.. Apax is set to raise €13 billion for a leveraged buyout fund, and it may well use it to finance its bid. Merck, which is not connected to the US company of the same name, is set to announce the names of the front runners for its generics division, with the winning offer likely to be selected at the end of April.
Teva said in response to the reports that as a public company, it would make any material announcements regarding the matter through the appropriate channels.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 14, 2007
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