Actavis Seen Deserving Second-Best Valuation in Sale: Real M&A

Actavis Inc., the generic drugmaker whose merger negotiations with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. stalled over price, may deserve the industry’s second-best valuation ever in a deal.

Gamco Investors Inc. said buyers may be lured by Actavis’s lineup of drugs, including generic versions of birth-control pill Seasonique and pain killer Percocet. The $13.5 billion company should get about $115 a share in a sale, Cowen Group Inc. and Canaccord Financial Inc. said. That price from Valeant or another suitor would represent the second-highest multiple to profit on record for the purchase of a generic-drug company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.