Intas Pharma to acquire Teva’s UK, Ireland generics businesses

Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd agreed to buy Actavis UK Ltd and Actavis Ireland Ltd from Israeli generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd for an enterprise value of approximately £600 million (Rs5,083 crore) in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition will expand Intas’s UK manufacturing presence with the addition of the Barnstaple site in North Devon and more than doubles Intas’s pan-European operations, with revenues exceeding $500 million, the company said. The Barnstaple plant will become the company’s fourth UK site. The deal will also increase Intas’s access to UK and Irish retail and hospital markets.

The transaction is part of the European Commission’s (EC) anti-trust divestiture requirements arising from Teva’s acquisition of Actavis Generics.

Teva agreed in July 2015 to purchase Allergan’s 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. Teva is in the process of selling its assets in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Recently, 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.

In June Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila) announced that they will buy products divested by Teva in the US.

Last year, Lupin Ltd acquired New Jersey-based Gavis Pharmaceuticals Llc and its affiliate Novel Laboratories Inc. for $880 million (around Rs5,600 crore) in a bid to expand its presence in the US generics market. Also in 2015, Cipla Ltd acquired two US-based companies, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc., for $550 million, to strengthen its presence in the world’s largest drug market.

UK is a large generic market and one of the top two generics market in Europe. While there is strong potential for growth in the market, it is a highly competitive market. For any Indian generic drug maker that is looking to increase its market share in the UK, it makes sense to go for brands which are already well entrenched in the market.

Intas operates over 10 manufacturing facilities worldwide. The group has capabilities to produce a wide variety of dosage forms, including solid orals, liquids, lyophilized sterile preparations, creams, drops and injectables. Intas employs 12,000 people globally with more than 400 located in Europe. The company employs over 800 scientists, spends approximately 6% of sales on R&D per annum and has been granted 27 international patents.