GERMANY: Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries agrees to pay more than 3.5 billion euros (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) for German generic drug maker Ratiopharm

Record ID: 588972

  • Title: GERMANY: Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries agrees to pay more than 3.5 billion euros (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) for German generic drug maker Ratiopharm
  • Date: 19th March 2010
  • Summary: COLOGNE, GERMANY (MARCH 18, 2010) (REUTERS) HANS-JOACHIM ZIEMS, MANAGER VEM HOLDING AND SHLOMO YANAI, CEO TEVA SHAKING HANDS REPORTERS SEATED AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) MANAGER VEM HOLDING, HANS-JOACHIM ZIEMS SAYING: "The process was complicated and complex. The reason is that the sale of the Merckle Ratiopharm group was not a long-term decision but was ultimately based on the pressure on VEM which was suffering from a strong financial burden that resulted from financial dealings. There was a necessity to pay back the big bank debts. That's why the sale of this affiliate, the Merckle Ratiopharm group, had to be carried out." REPORTER TYPING ON LAPTOP COMPUTER REPORTERS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (German) MANAGER VEM HOLDING, HANS-JOACHIM ZIEMS SAYING: "The bidders we were able to interest in this company since October realised the value of Merckle Ratiopharm and during the course of this sale process, they entered a phase which enabled us to implement what we had hoped for. I believe today, we can say with some pride that our hopes and our own judgement of the group's value could be implemented. This also shows the value of the company at 3.625 billion euros." REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEVA CEO, SHLOMO YANAI SAYING: "Those of you who are familiar with Teva know that Teva is a growth company. We believe that growth is the best value driver and market leadership is the best source for growth. And as a global generic leader, Teva regards increasing our market share and leadership in Europe as a key pillar of our strategy. By combining Teva and Ratiopharm we will become number one generic company in Europe. And this is actually the reason why we were so interested in acquiring Ratiopharm." REPORTERS SEATED
  • Embargoed: 3rd April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVAD2C2AS5MNHR1R0W0XRPEM3TTD
  • Story Text: Israel's Teva has won the battle for German generic drugmaker Ratiopharm, paying an enterprise value of 3.63 billion euros to fix its weakness in the world's second-largest generics market.
    Teva, which beat rival bids from U.S. drugs powerhouse Pfizer and Iceland's Actavis, said the combined company would have had 2009 revenues of 16.2 billion U.S. dollars (USD), up from Teva's own sales of 13.9 billion USD.
    Already the world's generics market leader, Teva will become number one in Europe with a deal that not only boosts its presence in Germany, but also in Spain, Italy and France. Europe now accounts for around a third of sales, up from under a quarter.
    Put on the auction block by Germany's Merckle family as its business empire crumbled, Ratiopharm vies with Stada for second place among Germany's generics makers, trailing Swiss drug major Novartis's Hexal business.
    None of the other companies have commented on the deal.
    Ratiopharm owner VEM, a Merckle family holding company, said in a news conference that the deal would leave it free of debt.
    "The process was complicated and complex. The reason is that the sale of the Merckle Ratiopharm group was not a long-term decision but was ultimately based on the pressure on VEM which was suffering from a strong financial burden that resulted from financial dealings. There was a necessity to pay back the big bank debts. That's why the sale of this affiliate, the Merckle Ratiopharm group, had to be carried out," said VEM manager Hans-Joachim Ziems.
    Teva is Israel's largest company with a market value of about 57 billion USD.
    "Those of you who are familiar with Teva know that Teva is a growth company. We believe that growth is the best value driver and market leadership is the best source for growth. And as a global generic leader, Teva regards increasing our market share and leadership in Europe as a key pillar of our strategy," said Teva CEO Shlomo Yanai.
    Teva shares rose more than 4 percent on the news.
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