Bloomberg: Actavis Among Final-stage Bidders For Omega Pharmaceuticals

(RTTNews) - Specialty pharmaceutical company Actavis plc (ACT) is said to be among the bidders for Belgian consumer health-care company Omega Pharma NV as it continues to look for more acquisition, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday. A sale of Omega would likely fetch in excess of 4 billion euros or $5.1 billion.

The other bidder in the fray are Dublin, Ireland-based drug maker Perrigo Co. (PRGO), French drug maker Sanofi SA (SNY) and private German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH.

The final offers for Omega are due in early November. The bidders are said to be carrying out due diligence currently. The sale is said to be run by Morgan Stanley (MS).

Omega Pharma was taken private in February 2012 by a consortium that included founder and CEO Marc Coucke, Waterland Private Equity Investments BV and several co-investors, after it was a public company for 13 years.

Meanwhile, generic drug maker Actavis had obtained an Irish tax domicile by acquiring Warner Chilcott Plc in a so called tax inversion deal last year.

Actavis agreed earlier in the month to acquire Durata Therapeutics, Inc. (DRTX) for $23.00 per share in an all-cash deal valued at about $675 million in order to bolster its infectious disease expertise and portfolio. The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in late 2014 or early 2015.

Actavis also reportedly made an offer to acquire Botox maker Allergan, Inc. (AGN) last month. However, Allergan is said to have rejected the offer as it was focused on finalizing a deal with Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SLXP) in order to fend off a $53 billion hostile bid from Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRX, VRX.TO).

Meanwhile, Salix Pharmaceuticals also is said to have separately held talks to sell itself to Actavis. Drug giant Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) had approached Actavis earlier this year to express its interest in an acquisition.

ACT closed Monday's regular trading session at $226.67, up $1.94 or 0.86% on a volume of 1.70 million shares. The stock gained a further $5.27 or 2.32% in after-hours trading.