Reports coming out of India are suggesting that Ranbaxy has withdrawn from the bidding for Merck KGaA’s generics unit over concerns that the price is too high, although the country’s Torrent Pharmaceuticals is believed to have made an offer.
The Business Standard of India cites industry sources as saying that Ranbaxy decided to opt out after valuations for the unit were stretched beyond $6 billion, and they added that an auction at this stage could easily take the valuations to over $6.5 billion. Ranbaxy itself has yet to make any official comment.
Fellow Indian group Torrent has also declined to comment but the The Times of India reported that the company, in partnership with private equity firms, has submitted an offer of more than $5 billion for the unit.
Torrent joins the likes of Israel’s Teva, Mylan Laboratories of the USA, Novartis’ generics unit Sandoz and Iceland’s Actavis who are all believed to still be in with a chance of acquiring the unit, while India’s Cipla is thought to be part of a consortium that has also made a bid.
– Meantime Merck, which is selling the generics in order to focus on its recent acquisition of Serono, says that it has initiated the squeeze-out procedure for the remaining publicly-held bearer shares in the Swiss company.
