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Actavis Plans To Spend $100M On Generic Drug Maker

Drug maker Actavis Plc plans to expand its reach into Southeast Asia by spending about $100 million to buy Silom Medical Co., a generic pharmaceutical company focused on Thailand.

Drug maker Actavis Plc plans to expand its reach into Southeast Asia by spending about $100 million to buy Silom Medical Co., a generic pharmaceutical company focused on Thailand.

Actavis, based in Ireland, said its latest deal should help adjusted earnings this year and will give it a leading position in the Thai generic pharmaceutical market. Silom sells more than 25 products to thousands of hospitals, clinics and drugstores throughout the country. Actavis currently sells about a dozen products in Thailand.

The deal, announced Tuesday, pales compared to a planned $25 billion acquisition of U.S. drug maker Forest Laboratories Inc. that Actavis announced in February.

Actavis has grown rapidly the past couple years through a string of multibillion-dollar deals. In late 2012, it merged with generic drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals in a $5.6 billion deal. Last year, it bought Ireland-based Warner Chilcott for $8.5 billion.

Actavis shares climbed 2.7 percent, or $5.54, to $211.39 Tuesday morning, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose less than 1 percent.

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