By Arno Schuetze and Pamela Barbaglia
FRANKFURT/LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - Japan's TakedaPharmaceutical Co has reached out to prospectivebidders for a portfolio of drugs for sale in western Europe asit seeks to trim its debt following the $59 billion purchase ofShire, sources close to the matter told Reuters.
Takeda is hoping to fetch around 1.5 billion euros ($1.68billion) from the sale and has sent out information packages tointerested parties, the sources said.
The drugs on the block include over-the-counter (OTC) andprescription medicines, patents for most of which have run out,meaning they can be copied by generic drug makers.
The assets have combined earnings before interest, tax,depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of about 160 millioneuros, the sources said, with OTC drugs accounting for about 40million euros.
Takeda is working with JPMorgan to find a new owner andwants to receive indicative bids after the summer, the sourcessaid.
Takeda and JPMorgan declined to comment.
The sale comes amid a wave of multi-billion dollar deals asdrugmakers seek to buy other companies to combat expiringpatents on their blockbuster medicines and renew their drugpipelines.
While the acquisition of Shire gave Takeda global heft, italso left it highly indebted, with 5.7 trillion yen ($52.73billion) of debt as of end-March this year.
Japan's biggest drugmaker said in January it would disposeof $10 billion worth of assets. It subsequently sold its dry-eyedrug Xiidra to Novartis for up to $5.3billion.
The group has pledged to focus on five key areas - oncology,gastroenterology, neuroscience, rare disease, and plasma-derivedtherapies – which contribute about 75% of its total revenue,while disposing of the rest.
It is hoping to clinch a deal for its Western European drugswith either an industry player or a private equity firm, thesources said, adding the portfolio could also be split andoffered to two sets of bidders.
The OTC drugs are expected to draw interest from the likesof Germany's Stada, France's Zentiva and Italy'sRecordati, the sources said.
The remainder of the business may appeal to industry playerswho are seeking to expand their distribution channels andincrease penetration of their own drugs, they added.
Another source said while there is no obvious buyer for theentire portfolio, private equity funds with existing healthcareinvestments - such as Cinven and Bain Capital, who jointly backStada, and Asian players, particularly Indian pharmaceuticalcompanies - are likely get involved as they want scale inEurope.
Takeda is also in the process of divesting its LatinAmerican assets, which are valued at about $1 billion.
The Latam sale is in the final stages, with Brazilianpharmaceutical firm EMS seen as the frontrunner, the sourcessaid.
Reckitt Benckiser and Uruguay's Megalabs have beenshortlisted along with EMS to submit binding offers for theLatam portfolio, but are less likely to win, they said.
EMS, Reckitt and Megalabs declined to comment.($1 = 0.8908 euros)($1 = 108.1000 yen)(Additional reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Takashi Umekawa;Editing by Jan Harvey)