Actavis
Actavis is a global pharmaceutical company based in Ireland and the U.S. and roots in Iceland. Actavis specializes in generic and is one of the largest generic pharmaceutical companies in the world. The annual turnover is nearly 9 billion U.S. dollars.
History
The company was founded in 1956 as Pharmaco. By the end of the 1990s, Actavis had fewer than 100 employees and served only the Icelandic market. 1999, the Bulgarian competitors Balkan Pharma was acquired. Since then, more than 25 companies were purchased.
Actavis is now represented in 40 countries and its products are sold in 60 countries.
Main shareholder was the Icelandic billionaire Thor Björgólfur Björgólfsson, who held 80 percent of Actavis through his investment firm Novator. Because of the Icelandic financial crisis in October 2008, however, he has rejected such participation.
In 2011, the generics company Actavis moved its headquarters from Iceland to Steinhausen in Canton train in Switzerland. Already in 2012, Actavis was acquired for 4.25 billion euros by the U.S. generics company Watson Pharmaceuticals. However, it was agreed to keep the name Actavis.
In February 2014, Actavis announced its intention to take over the competitors in generics Forest Laboratories for about 25 billion U.S. dollars. However, are also counter-offers for Forest, for example, Valeant in the room, including the possibility that Valeant Actavis buys.