Drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is said to be in talks to buy Sweden’s pharma 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 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 BSE.
Meda is an international speciality pharma company with product portfolio in three main segments -- speciality products, over the counter drugs and branded generics. The Dilip Shanghvi-led pharma 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 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.