Stada, buyout funds in race for Bristol-Myers' French business: sources
By Arno Schuetze, Pamela Barbaglia and Ben Martin
LONDON (Reuters) - German generic drugmaker Stada
The business, known as Upsa, was put up for sale over the summer. Bidders were asked to submit their offers ahead of a deadline of Oct. 5, the sources said. Investment banks were hired to launch an auction in the second half of the year.
The deal is potentially worth about 1 billion euros ($1.15 billion) and comes amid a wave of consolidation in the consumer health sector as big drugmakers are increasingly focusing on their strongest areas.
Private equity funds are attracted by high growth in the over-the-counter drug business, where demand is being driven by aging populations and health-conscious consumers.
Upsa, which makes Dafalgan and Efferalgan painkillers, has also received indicative bids from BC Partners, CVC Capital Partners and PAI Partners as well as Stada, which is controlled by private equity funds Bain Capital and Cinven.
Stada, BC Partners, CVC and PAI declined to comment while officials at Upsa were not immediately available for comment.
France's pharmaceutical and cosmetics group Pierre Fabre and U.S.-run drugmaker Mylan NV (NASDAQ: MYL) had initially studied the dossier and joined the race for the business, one of the sources said.
But a spokeswoman for Pierre Fabre said the company had not made a bid.
UNION OPPOSITION
Upsa generated revenue of 425 million euros in 2017 and core earnings of about 100 million euros.
One of the sources said the business might fetch less than 1 billion euros, saying that the company had a workforce of about 1,500 people and local unions would oppose any significant restructuring following a change of ownership.
Bristol-Myers advisers Deutsche Bank
In April, Procter & Gamble agreed to pay 3.4 billion euros for Merck KGaA's
Bristol-Myers wants to concentrate on high-margin prescription drugs, particularly for cancer, and has previously divested a series of non-core assets including the 2009 spin-off of its baby food unit Mead Johnson Nutrition.
($1 = 0.8712 euros)
(Writing by Pamela Barbaglia. Additional reporting by Matthias Blamont in Paris. Editing by Jane Merriman/Emelia Sithole-Matarise)