Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) And Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) Eye Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) Castoffs Worth Up To $2B

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Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) And Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) Eye Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) Castoffs Worth Up To $2B

In March, European regulators said that they would clear Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) $40.5 billion pickups of the Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN) generics business. These were previously pending castoffs. Currently, shoppers interested in those castoffs are showing up.

Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) and Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) are examining the portfolio carefully, which could go for as much as $1.5 billion to $2 billion according to information issued by Bloomberg sources. Also, private equity organizations including Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) and Cinven Ltd are contemplating joining the mix. However, the European Commission has said that it is better for the products to go to a buyer that knows how the European generics markets works and can navigate easily.

Teva is dumping assets as it works to put to an end the deal it had accepted last simmer. While Teva is still waiting for a decision from the United States, it has won a European thumbs up with the agreement to dispose a majority of Allergan’s current generics business in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has also agreed to sell off its own business in Iceland and other segments in 24 other countries.

For the moment, it would be no surprise if Novartis and Mylan secured some of those assets. Some time back, Novartis and Mylan, along with Allergan and Teva had formed the Big 4 in the European generics markets. Since Teva’s acquisition will send Allergan out of the picture, it seems Novartis and Mylan are not interested in falling far behind their newly bulked up category leader.

For many months, most analysts have been looking at Teva’s antitrust negotiations as a good chance for Mylan, which lost out on target Perrigo after the protracted hostile takeover in November. According to some sources, the effort was just a way to ward off Mylan’s own suitor, Teva, which dropped its quest in favor of the Allergan generics purchase.

However, Mylan has not been just sitting waiting to acquire Teva’s scraps. In February, Mylan announced a $7.2 billion agreement for Sweden’s Meda and last week; it revealed a $1 billion pact for some topical skin meds from Renaissance Acquisition Holdings.