Torrent Pharmaceuticals drops plan to buy Sanofi's Europe business

Company was in talks with PE firms to raise funds

Torrent Pharmaceuticals has opted out of the bid for Sanofi’s European generic business, which was valued at € 2 billion (Rs 160 billion), sources said, adding Torrent felt the deal value was high.

Torrent was in the race for Sanofi’s generic drugs unit, Zentiva, and was preparing a binding bid of ^2 billion. It had also appointed JP Morgan and JM Financial to help raise Rs 15 billion through qualified insitutional placement (QIP) for the deal. Besides, it had tied up with lenders to raise another Rs 130-140 billion to fund the potential acquisition. The company, however, has chosen to opt