Watson Pharma confirms buy of generic group Actavis for 4.25 billion euros

As has been widely rumoured over this week, Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) has confirmed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-owned generics firm Actavis, formerly an Icelandic group but now headquartered in Switzerland, for an upfront payment of 4.25 billion euros ($5.61 billion). As a result of this acquisition, Watson will become the third largest global generics company with 2012 anticipated pro forma revenue of around $8 billion.

Actavis, which as a stand-alone company was positioned for strong growth, has a commercial presence in more than 40 countries and markets more than 1,000 products globally. Actavis has around 300 projects in its development pipeline and manufactured more than 22 billion pharmaceutical doses in 2011. Actavis has more than 10,000 employees worldwide and had 2011 revenues of approximately $2.5 billion.

Will become global number three in generics