Intas Pharmaceuticals to buy Actavis

Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd agreed to buy Actavis UK Ltd and Actavis Ireland Ltd from Israeli generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd for an enterprise value of approximately Rs 5,083 crore in an all cash transaction.

The acquisition will expand Intas UK manufacturing presence with the addition of the Barnstaple site in North Devon and more than doubles Intas pan-European operations, with revenues exceeding $500 Million. The Barnstaple plant will become the company’s fourth UK site. The deal will also increase Intas access to UK and Irish retail and hospital markets.

The transaction is part of the European Commission’s anti-trust divestiture requirements arising from Teva acquisition of Actavis Generics. Teva agreed in July 2015 to purchase Allergan generics unit for $40.5 Billion in cash and stock a deal that made Teva the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world. Since then Teva has been on a divestment spree to address antitrust concerns.

In July, Cipla Ltd, India’s fifth largest drug maker, had acquired a portfolio of three products from Teva in the US. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd was also part of the 11 firms that agreed to acquire 79 existing and future drugs from Teva. Intas acquisition of Teva UK assets puts it in the big league of large overseas acquisitions by Indian Pharma firms. It is also the biggest outbound M&A transaction in the Pharma space so far in 2016.