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 Unlisted Boehringer said in a statement on Thursday it was exploring
strategic options including a sale for the Columbus, Ohio-based
business, but no decision had been made yet.
Roxane's activities include the development and marketing of
Boehringer's generic drugs. It also has a production site making
both generic drugs and some of Boehringer's patent-protected drugs.
The company clarified the business had 1,300 staff after earlier
providing a figure of around 1,200.
A company spokeswoman said Boehringer was not a specialist in
generics and was therefore considering whether it made more sense
for a generics specialist to own Roxane Labs.
The generics sector has seen rapid consolidation with Teva,
Novartis's Sandoz unit and Actavis as the top players, seeking to
gain scale to cut costs amid fierce competition.
The number of big-selling chemical drugs going off patent has
declined since a 2012 peak, making it tougher for generics makers to
generate new business.
Conventional chemical drugs with small molecules are relatively easy
to copy, but the healthcare sector is shifting toward more complex
biopharmaceuticals.
The spokeswoman said, however, that Roxane Labs was "experiencing
strong business performance and has a successful track record of
regulatory compliance".
Boehringer declined to provide revenue figures for Roxane.
Bloomberg cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying that
the asset could fetch as much as 2 billion euros ($2.36 billion) and
that Boehringer was working with Morgan Stanley on the sale.(http://bloom.bg/14AO91o)
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Boehringer may also be interested in pursuing asset swaps with
competitors to bulk up its businesses such as prescription drugs,
the report said. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The move would further shake up the German group's U.S. business. It
sold the assets of its U.S. generic injectable drugs unit Bedford
Laboratories last year to Hikma Pharmaceuticals for up to $300
million.
Boehringer had previously run into quality control issues at a
manufacturing site in Ohio, which it shut down.
Boehringer had more than 14 billion euros in sales in 2013,
including about 11 billion from prescription medicines.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, Shailesh
Kuber in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian, Georgina Prodhan and
Crispian Balmer)
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