Teva is up against Pfizer and Actavis for Ratiopharm, whose price tag is about €3 billion.
The Ratiopharm GmbH tender is going down to the wire. "Reuters" reports that Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE; LSE: PFZ) will submit its final offer for the German pharmaceutical company today, and that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) and Icelandic drug company Actavis will submit their final offers tomorrow.
Foreign media reports say that the price tag for Ratiopharm is about €3 billion, including its debt. This will make its acquisition that largest takeover in the pharmaceutical industry since Teva acquired Barr Pharmaceuticals for $9 billion, including debt, in 2008.
The Ratiopharm tender has lasted several weeks. Foreign media reports mention Teva, Pfizer and Actavis (backed by Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB; XETRA: DBG) as the finalists. The results of the tender are due by the end of March, or in early April at the latest.
Ratiopharm is one of the largest companies in Germany's $8.6 billion pharmaceutical market.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 17, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010