Suitors bid as much as $7.8B for Actavis

File under 'it had to happen': Iceland's Actavis Group is asking for takeover bids. The generics maker could bring as much as $7.8 billion, MarketWatch reports, citing Bloomberg. Among the interested parties are--reportedly, anyway--Sanofi-Aventis, which has been putting together financing for potential deals; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries; and Watson Pharmaceuticals.

As you know, Actavis ran into big trouble last year when its private equity owner Novator, controlled by billionaire entrepreneur Thor Bjorggolfsson, ran afoul of the big Icelandic banking crisis. Bjorggolfsson lost a bundle in the financial collapse, leaving his concerns in need of cash. So Actavis hired Merrill Lynch to explore its options. Stay tuned.

- see the MarketWatch story [1]

Related Articles:
Iceland's Actavis goes up for bid [2]
Actavis downplays talk of sellout [3]
From Iceland's woes, an $8B Actavis deal? [4]