Speciality pharma firm Hikma has announced that it will buy US generics business Roxane from German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim.
The deal is worth $2.65bn and comprises $1.18bn in cash and the issuance of 40 million new Hikma shares. It will enable the company to boost its presence in the US generics drugs market.
Jordan-based Hikma, which makes branded and non-branded generics and injectable drugs, said the acquisition would make it the sixth largest generics company in the US by revenue.
Said Darwazah, chief executive of the firm, said: “This transaction has significant strategic value for us, transforming our position and scale in the US generics market.”
Professor Andreas Barner, chairman of the board of managing directors of Boehringer, added: “This is a great opportunity for Roxane to continue to build on its position in the global generics market as part of a fast-growing company that has a primary focus on generics.”
This comes in the same week that Teva, the world’s largest generic drugmaker, bought Allergan’s generics unit for a deal worth $40.5bn. It had been seeking to buy Mylan for around the same price, but was thwarted by that company’s board’s desire to fight any takeover attempt.
The latest deal in the sector comes just over a year after Boehringer sold its troubled sterile injectables subsidiary Bedford Laboratories to Hikma in a deal valued at $300m.
Hikma also gained ownership of Bedford’s portfolio of 84 generic injectable drugs and a number of ongoing contacts to manufacture medicines for other companies.
There have been a number of generic deals this year, including Pfizer’s $15bn deal for Hospira in February and Endo International’s $8bn purchase of Par Pharmaceutical in May.