Teva to Acquire Majority Stake in Japanese Generics Firm Taiyo for $460M

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is paying $460 million for a 57% stake in privately held Japanese generics firm Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry, and is looking to purchase Taiyo outright, in a deal that values the latter at $1.3 billion.

Teva claims Taiyo is the third largest generics firm in Japan, with sales of $530 million in 2010, two manufacturing facilities, and strong R&D and regulatory expertise. Its portfolio includes over 550 generic drugs spanning a broad range of therapeutic areas and dosage forms. “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 section of the Japanese market,” comments Shlomo Yanai, Teva president and CEO. Teva further predicts the acquisition will allow it to reach its 2015 target of $1 billion in sales in Japan ahead of schedule.

The firm says Japan is the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world, valued at $96 billion in 2010. Although there is currently a relatively low, 23% rate of generic penetration, the Japanese government is making moves to increase this to 30% by 2012, Teva adds.