Home grown drug makersAurobindo and Intas are among the final contenders for the UK and Irish portfolio of Israeli generics behemoth Teva, put up for sale to comply with European anti-trust regulations.
Both players have submitted binding offers of around $1 billion on Friday along with firm financing commitments, said multiple sources aware.
Teva is selling assets as part of a broader divestiture process to comply with the anti-trust regulations for its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan Plc's generics business that was announced last year. In an array of piecemeal deals in June, Teva sold around 80 products in the US to drug makers like Dr. Reddy's, Sagent, Cipla, Zydus Cadila, Aurobindo, Impax and Perrigo. The biggest sale by Teva as part of that process was to Mayne of Australia for $652 million.
For the UK business, the Indian players are competing with private equity interests from Cinven, a London-headquartered private equity firm and buyout specialists Apollo Global Management LLC. An earlier Bloomberg report said globalpharma giants Mylan NV andNovartisAG are also potential suitors but it could not be independently verified if they have indeed put in firm bids last week.
A buyer could emerge in the next few weeks, the people quoted above said. The European Commission may prefer the assets going to a strategic buyer with experience in the European generics market, added a source directly involved. He however cautioned that there is still no guarantee that the Indian suitors will be successful in the end.
Mails sent to Aurobindo, Intas and Teva went unanswered until press time.
If successful, this would be Aurobindo's largest ever acquisition, surpassing its $132.5 million purchase of US vitamin maker Natrol Inc. in 2014. Morgan Stanley is advising the company while Temasek-backed Intas is being represented by Moelis. These are the only two Indian company in fray. Torrent Pharma, which was named in the initial bidding process, has bowed out of the race, informed sources said.
Both players have submitted binding offers of around $1 billion on Friday along with firm financing commitments, said multiple sources aware.
Teva is selling assets as part of a broader divestiture process to comply with the anti-trust regulations for its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan Plc's generics business that was announced last year. In an array of piecemeal deals in June, Teva sold around 80 products in the US to drug makers like Dr. Reddy's, Sagent, Cipla, Zydus Cadila, Aurobindo, Impax and Perrigo. The biggest sale by Teva as part of that process was to Mayne of Australia for $652 million.
For the UK business, the Indian players are competing with private equity interests from Cinven, a London-headquartered private equity firm and buyout specialists Apollo Global Management LLC. An earlier Bloomberg report said globalpharma giants Mylan NV andNovartisAG are also potential suitors but it could not be independently verified if they have indeed put in firm bids last week.
A buyer could emerge in the next few weeks, the people quoted above said. The European Commission may prefer the assets going to a strategic buyer with experience in the European generics market, added a source directly involved. He however cautioned that there is still no guarantee that the Indian suitors will be successful in the end.
Mails sent to Aurobindo, Intas and Teva went unanswered until press time.
If successful, this would be Aurobindo's largest ever acquisition, surpassing its $132.5 million purchase of US vitamin maker Natrol Inc. in 2014. Morgan Stanley is advising the company while Temasek-backed Intas is being represented by Moelis. These are the only two Indian company in fray. Torrent Pharma, which was named in the initial bidding process, has bowed out of the race, informed sources said.