Mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring

Mumbai, India (May 21)—Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (www.sunpharma.com) together with its subsidiaries, signed definitive agreements to acquire Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Hawthorne, NY, www.taro.com), a multinational generic manufacturer with established subsidiaries, manufacturing and products across the United States, Israel, Canada. North America represents more than 90% of Taro's sales. This all-cash deal is subject to Taro shareholder approval and requisite regulatory clearances. In addition, to provide immediate liquidity for Taro, Sun Pharma will provide interim financing to the extent of $45 million.

Taro reported 2005 sales of $298 million and profit of $5.7 million. Taro's financial statements for 2003 and 2004 were required to be restated by the audit committee of its board of directors in view of errors in estimating the chargebacks from wholesalers and the actual inventory in the drug distribution chain. As reported on March 20, 2007 by Taro, it expects to report a substantial loss for the year ended December 31, 2006.

Wilmington, NC (May 17)—AAIPharma Inc. (www.aaipharma.com) completed its acquisition of Instituto de Pesquisa Clinica de Sao Paulo, Ltd., a contract research organization providing clinical development services in Brazil.

Basel, Switzerland (May 16)—Following its acquisition of the research bioproducts and microbial biopharmaceutical business of Cambrex Corp. (East Rutherford, NJ, www.cambrex.com) earlier this year, Lonza (www.lonza.com) announced it will consolidate all US microbial activities in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Lonza will invest more than $30 million in its Hopkinton site to support its microbial process development and manufacturing growth plans. Both the commercial operations and biopharma service activities in Baltimore, Maryland will continue to run for as long as necessary, anticipated to be until early 2008 to allow for securing sufficient supply of all existing commercial products currently manufactured at the site and to ensure a fully compliant technology transfer to Hopkinton.

The relocation from Baltimore and the subsequent development of the Hopkinton site may result in as many as 250 additional jobs in Hopkinton. Lonza will offer job opportunities to the affected employees of Baltimore in its other US sites, namely in Hopkinton and the closely situated Lonza Bioscience headquarters in Walkersville, Maryland. Lonza's microbial pharmaceutical business produces therapeutic proteins, fragmented antibodies, vaccines, and other biopharmaceuticals based on microbial expression platforms.

Darmstadt, Germany (May 13)—Mylan Laboratories Inc. (Canonsburg, PA, www.mylan.com) and Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany, www.generics.merck.de) signed a share purchase agreement under which Mylan will acquire all of Merck's worldwide operations within Merck Generics, the company's generics business. The $6.7-billion, all-cash transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to regulatory review. Merck Generics has a product portfolio comprising 400 substances, dosage forms, and drug delivery systems.

In a prepared statement, Karl Ludwig-Kley, chairman of the executive board at Merck KGaA said the company will now focus its resources on growing its pharmaceuticals and chemicals business sectors. In 2006, Merck's generics division accounted for 29% of Merck Group sales and 28% of the group's operating result, with sales rising 6.9% in 2006. Merck Generics employs nearly 5000 people worldwide.

Mylan operates through Mylan Pharmaceuticals (generic pharmaceuticals), Mylan Technologies (transdermal patches, generic and brand-name), and UDL Laboratories (supplier of unit dose pharmaceuticals). Mylan also owns a controlling interest in Matrix Laboratories, which produces active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Hafnarfjordur, Iceland (May 11)—The directors of Actavis (www.actavis.com) received and is reviewing a takeover offer made by Novator (London, www.novator.co.uk), an investment company led by Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, Actavis's chairman. Novator is offering EUR.98 (approximately $1.30) per share.

Muttenz, Switzerland (May 8)—Clariant (www.clariant.com) plans to sell its custom manufacturing business to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG, Frankfurt, Germany, www.ic-investors.com) to focus on its core competencies in colors, surfaces, and performance chemicals. The custom manufacturing business supplies intermediates and active ingredients for the agrochemical, pharmaceutical, and polymer industries. The transaction value was not disclosed. Last year, Clariant sold its pharmaceutical fine chemicals business to the private equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners, which later launched the business as Archimica (Frankfurt, Germany, www.archimica.com).

Gurgaon, India (May 8)—Ranbaxy Laboratories (www.ranbaxy.com) finalized its acquisition of Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals Limited (Johannesburg, South Africa). The $70-million acquisition makes Ranbaxy the fifth largest generic pharmaceutical company in South Africa and gives the company local manufacturing capability.

St. Louis, MO (May 8)—Sigma-Aldrich Corporation's SAFC (www.safcglobal.com) acquired the biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing organization Molecular Medicine BioServices Inc. (Carlsbad, CA, www.molecularmed.com). Financial terms were not disclosed.

Marietta, GA (May 7)—Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.solvaypharmaceuticals-us.com) plans to sell its pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Baudette, Minnesota to ANI Pharmaceuticals (Baltimore, MD, www.anipharmaceuticals.com). ANI will assume current manufacturing and packaging activities performed at the facilities and will serve as a contract manufacturer to Solvay for products currently manufactured and packaged in Baudette. ANI also will provide laboratory services to Solvay.

Kenilworth, NJ (May 4)—Schering-Plough Corporation (www.schering-plough.com) received a request for additional information from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, Washington, DC, www.ftc.gov) regarding its planned acquisition of Organon BioSciences N.V. (Oss, Netherlands, www.organon.com) Schering-Plough still expects the transaction to close by the end of 2007.

Mumbai, India (May 3)—Wockhardt Limited (www.wockhardt.com) acquired Negma Laboratories for $265 million. Negma is the fourth largest independent, integrated pharmaceutical group in France. Wockhardt now owns five pharmaceutical companies in Europe.