press trust of india
NEW DELHI, 2 JUNE: Drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is said to be in talks to buy Sweden’s pharmaceutical firm Meda AB in a deal worth up to $5 billion, according to media reports.
Sun Pharma has been in talks with several banks to raise funds to buy out Meda for as much as $5 billion as part of its expansion plans, Wall Street Journal has reported.
A spokesperson of Sun Pharma refused to comment on the reports, while e-mailed queries to Meda remained unanswered.
The Mumbai-based firm had, however, last week termed the reports of a possible deal as “speculation”.
“We have absolutely no comment on market speculation. Please further note that since we have large cash and cash equivalents, we are constantly linked to rumours of international acquisitions,” the company had said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Meda is an international speciality pharmaceutical company with product portfolio in three main segments ~ speciality products, over the counter drugs and branded generics.
The Dilip Shanghvi-led pharmaceutical major has a history of acquisitions. In November 2012, Sun Pharma had inked a pact to acquire US-based DUSA Pharmaceuticals for around $230 million (around Rs 1,250 crore).
In December the same year, the company’s arm Caraco Pharma had entered into a definitive agreement with Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ to buy US-based generics subsidiary URL Pharma.
In 2010, after nearly four years of legal wrangling, Sun Pharma had acquired a controlling stake in Israeli firm Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
The Mumbai-based firm had signed a $454-million merger deal with Taro in 2007, which was terminated a year later by the Israeli firm unilaterally. After this, both the companies had filed various legal suits against each other.
In November last year, Sun Pharma had said it was looking forward to larger acquisitions as a part of its expansion plans.
“We continue to look for opportunities to expand our business in all the key geographies and markets we are focused on. We are looking at acquiring businesses hopefully larger then DUSA going forward,” Sun Pharma managing director Dilip Shanghvi had said during a conference call last year.
Mumbai-based drug major posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,008.06 crore for fiscal 2012-13 as against Rs 2,656.69 crore in the previous fiscal.