GERMANY – EQT still in Ratiopharm race

The Ratiopharm group is a generic drugs maker with a total expected turnover of EUR 1.6bn in 2008. The company is based in Ulm and employs 5,584 people.

Originally, KKR, TPG, Permira and Goldman Sachs were also racing a number of interested trade buyers. Ratiopharm is valued at as much as EUR 2.3bn and is being sold by VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH to ease the debt load of late Adolf Merckle. Strategic investors reported to be interested are Israel's Teva, US-based Mylan, France's Sanofi-Aventis, Sinopharm from China and Iceland's Actavis.

EQT is having a busy month in Germany indeed - it is also expected to announce its agreement to acquire academic publisher Springer Science + Business media before the week is up.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• DACH