Actavis lining up Ratiopharm financing

More details are emerging about the final round of bidding for the German generics maker Ratiopharm. Apparently, the Icelandic drugmaker Actavis has the current high bid, and it's hooking up with Deutsche Bank--its largest creditor--to finance a potential deal.

The New York Times reports that Actavis offered close to 3 billion euros for Ratiopharm, or $4.12 billion. And Deutsche Bank agreed to finance the deal because it's hoping that combining itself with Ratiopharm could help Actavis repay the 4 billion euros or so it already owes the bank.

The Wall Street Journal, however, reports that although negotiations for financing are under way--and the funding for an acquisition "will soon be a done deal"--it's not a done deal yet. Once the financing is in place, Actavis would then present its merger plan to Ratiopharm as part of this final round of bidding.

Meanwhile, sources tell the Journal that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is expected to explain its merger plan to the company next week.

- see the NYT story 
- get more from the Wall Street Journal

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