Bayer HealthCare eyeing acquisitions

With more than 2.0 billion euros ($2.89 billion) in cash and equivalents on hand, Germany-based Bayer HealthCare is looking to acquire prescription drug assets and companies, to take advantage of their weaknesses amid the current financial turmoil, Arthur Higgins, chief executive of this Bayer AG subsidiary told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. He expects to find such opportunities within the next six to 24 months.

Nearly a year ago, Bayer AG chief Werner Wenning said that the group aims to expand its health care business via further acquisitions and will investigate opportunities as they arise (Marketletter December 2007). Mr Wenning then noted that the current crisis in money markets presented no problem in funding a potential acquisition - even a large one.

Apart from its mega-purchase of fellow German drugmaker Schering in 2006, Bayer has already made several small acquisitions, the most recent being the 210.0-million euro buy of Direvo Biotech (Marketletter September 22). The company is also set to boost sales with the roll-out of its new blood clotting drug Xarelto (rivaroxaban), which has just been cleared for marketing in the European Union and this month debuted in the UK. Bayer believes the drug has the potential to generate turnover of 2.0 billion euros a year.