Teva To Acquire Taiyo

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 57% of the shares in Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd. for $460 million in cash. Teva will also extend an offer to purchase all remaining shares of Taiyo. The total transaction is valued at $1.3 billion.

Taiyo is the third largest generic pharmaceutical company in Japan with sales of $530 million in 2010. The company has a generic product portfolio with more than 550 generic drugs in a variety of therapeutic areas and dosage forms. Taiyo has production capabilities in a range of technologies, including sterile manufacturing in two facilities, as well as a strong R&D team and local regulatory expertise.

Shlomo Yanai, Teva’s president and chief executive officer, said, “This acquisition will enable Teva to deliver on our strategic objective of becoming a leading player in the fast-growing Japanese generics market. In fact, we now expect to reach our 2015 target of $1 billion in sales in Japan ahead of schedule. Taiyo’s strong market reach, cutting-edge production facilities, and impressively large product portfolio, combined with Teva’s scale and capabilities as the world’s largest generics company, will enable us to offer a much wider range of high quality, affordable generics to a much larger segment of the Japanese market.”

Teva expects to complete the transaction by the end of the third quarter. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.