European regulators said in March that they’d clear Teva’s $40.5 billion pickup of Allergan’s generics business–pending some castoffs. And now, buyers interested in those castoffs are popping up, with the Israeli drugmaker’s fellow generics giants among them.
Mylan and Novartis’ Sandoz are taking a hard look at the portfolio, which could go for as much as $1.5 billion to $2 billion, according to Bloomberg’s sources. Private equity firms such as Apollo Global Management and Cinven Ltd. are also considering jumping into the mix, though the European Commission has said it would prefer the products go to a buyer that knows how to navigate the European generics market.
Teva is jettisoning assets as it works to close the deal it agreed to last summer. While it’s still waiting for a decision in the U.S., it won a European thumbs up with an agreement to sell off “a majority” of Allergan’s current generics business in the U.K. and Ireland; its own business in Iceland; and molecules in 24 other countries on the continent.
Meanwhile, if Sandoz and Mylan did bite on some of those assets, it would be no surprise. The companies, along with Teva and Allergan, previously formed the Big 4 in generics. As Teva’s acquisition sends Allergan out of the picture, Sandoz and Mylan aren’t interested in falling far behind their newly bulked-up category leader.
Analysts have for months been looking at Teva’s antitrust negotiations as an opportunity for Mylan, which in November lost out on target Perrigo after a protracted hostile takeover effort. (Some say that effort was just a way to ward off Mylan’s own hostile suitor, Teva, which abandoned its quest in favor of the Allergan generics buy.)
Mylan hasn’t just been sitting around waiting to pick up Teva’s scraps, though. In February, it announced a $7.2 billion agreement for Sweden’s Meda, and last week, it unveiled a $1 billion pact for some topical skin meds from Renaissance Acquisition Holdings.
By Carly Helfand
Source: Fierce Pharma
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