Teva beefs up in emerging markets with $2.3B Rimsa buyout

Teva CEO Erez Vigodman

Last month, names like Sanofi ($SNY), Pfizer ($PFE), Abbott ($ABT) and Takeda were flying around as potential suitors for Mexico-based Representaciones e Investigaciones Medicas, aka Rimsa. But it's Teva ($TEVA) that's emerged victorious in the field.

The Israeli pharma will shell out $2.3 billion for the generics maker, which pulled in $227 million in 2014 and has recorded annual growth of 10.6% since 2011. Teva says it will close the buyout by early next year, and it'll start padding earnings early the year after that.

Key to Teva's plans will be Rimsa's relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers, as well as its commercial presence in Mexico, CEO Erez Vigodman said in a statement. The generics giant plans to use the acquisition as a platform for further expansion in the fast-growing region, and it expects Rimsa's sales prowess to give its own products a boost.

Teva's global generics CEO Siggi Olafsson

"We will build on their brand reputation, successful sales force model, well-established commercial footprint and loyal customer base to introduce additional specialty and generic Teva medicines to patients in Mexico and across the region," Siggi Olafsson, CEO of Teva's generics unit, said in a statement.

Beefing up in emerging markets--and generics, Teva's legacy business--has been high on the list of priorities for Vigodman since he took the helm at Teva early last year. While the company stayed quiet through much of pharma's M&A bonanza, lately it's picked up the dealmaking pace quite a bit, and it's stayed true to Vigodman's stated aims.

Most notably, Teva inked a pact in July to purchase Allergan's ($AGN) generics business--which churned out $6.6 billion in sales last year--for $40.5 billion. That deal ended Teva's pursuit of rival generics giant Mylan ($MYL), an unwilling target that had said it would make sure a hostile takeover took years.

- read the release

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