Shopping for generic buyouts? Here's a list

Hear ye, hear ye: Any Big Pharma looking to snap up a generics maker has three options on offer this morning--and, as a blueprint, one behind-the-scenes look at how a recent emerging-markets generics deal went down.

First, there's Germany's Stada. The company announced yesterday that it plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and double its profits. CEO Hartmut Retzlaff says that it is not only scouting for acquisitions of its own, but it's also open to buyout offers. The company has been named as a potential target for Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), which lost out to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) in the bidding for Stada's German rival Ratiopharm.

Next, there are two Indian generics makers that analysts are tagging as likely buyouts. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Cipla--two of the country's biggest domestic drugmakers--are logical takeover targets for multinational drugmakers, First Global Securities says. And given the premium Abbott Laboratories paid to buy Piramal Healthcare, it appears that there's no shortage of potential buyers. Moreover, those buyers might be willing to pay plenty for a bigger footprint in India, which is one of the fastest-growing pharma markets in the world right now.

Finally, you'll want to explore just how that price for Piramal was set. MoneyControl offers a look at the deal from Piramal's point of view, in a story that includes a secret rendezvous in Dubai and a three-page note setting out Ajay Piramal's valuation of the division he'd end up selling to Abbott. "It took about four hours of my time," Piramal tells the magazine. May you be so lucky.

- see the Reuters story
- check out the coverage from Bloomberg
- read the MoneyControl article