Money Matters, Simplified.
Teva wins race to acquire German-based Ratiopharm
by Jaspreet Virk - March 18, 2010 - comments
The acquisition of Ratiopharm will help the Israel-based drugmaker Teva to strengthen its foothold in the $8.6 billion German market for copied drugs.
Ending almost a yearlong battle to takeover German generic drugmaker Ratiopharm GmbH, Israel's Teva has emerged as the winner.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is close to inking a deal with the German-based pharmaceutical company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Teva is expected to pay 3.5 billion euros ($4.78 billion) to acquire Germany’s second largest maker of generic drugs.
Ratiopharm has called a conference at 1300 GMT in Cologne to announce the deal.
Teva wins the battle
The Merckle family, the owner of Ratiopharm, had agreed last year to sell the company, as a part of a restructuring deal to pay off bad investment. As a result, it invited bids for the company.
Drug makers like Pfizer and Actavis Group hf also joined the auction to takeover Ratiopharm.
Pfizer, the world’s largest maker of drugs, reportedly offered 3 billion euros ($4.08 billion) for the German-based company. Even Actavis Group offered some 3 billion euros to acquire Ratiopharm.
But Teva Pharmaceuticals won against Iceland's Actavis and U.S. based Pfizer to takeover Ratiopharm.
The acquisition will help Teva become one of the leading drug-makers in the country, alongside Novartis AG’s Hexal unit and Stada Arzneimittel AG.
The companies had until Thursday to submit final bids for the German drugmaker.
Acquisition to strengthen position in German market
Acquiring Ratiopharm will be Teva’s biggest takeover since it bought Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $7.4 billion in 2008.
Teva had last year bought shares in the OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc, thus gaining greater access in the Japanese generic-drug market.
The acquisition of Ratiopharm will help the Israel-based drugmaker to strengthen its foothold in the $8.6 billion German market for generic drugs.
The aim of the company is to double its revenue to $31 billion by 2015 as more people are opting for copied drugs due to increasing health care costs.
It will also help Teva become one of the leading drugmakers in the country, alongside Novartis AG’s Hexal unit and Stada Arzneimittel AG.
Frances Cloud, an independent analyst in London, told BusinessWeek, “It’s the last major piece in the jigsaw for Teva in Europe. It will put them comfortably in the frame to deliver their 2015 targets for Europe.”