Stada CEO open to a good buyout bid

Pfizer, are you listening? Stada CEO Hartmut Retzlaff may be talking to you. At a news conference today, the Stada executive said that management wouldn't stand in the way of a decent buyout bid. "Should we get a takeover offer that values the company at a level that we cannot achieve on our own strength, we would not block it," Retzlaff said (as quoted by Reuters).

Stada looks like the prize of the German generics world at the moment, and there's been plenty of speculation that Pfizer--and perhaps others--might mount a bid for the company. There's certainly plenty of interest in generics makers in general, and the German market in particular; until the Merckle family recently agreed to sell Ratiopharm to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for $5.1 billion, drugmakers and private equity investors were hovering around, offers in hand.

Retzlaff said at the news conference that he doesn't know what Pfizer might be planning, Reuters reports. Retzlaff also said he hasn't been contacted by Actavis, the Icelandic generics maker that also bid for Ratiopharm. Of a potential offer for his company, the CEO said (as quoted by Bloomberg), "We aren't active in any way and view it in a very relaxed way." Might he remain as relaxed if a buyer did more than kick tires at Stada?

- see the Reuters news
- read the story from Bloomberg

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