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March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, is bidding as much as 3 billion euros ($4.08 billion) for German generic-drug maker Ratiopharm GmbH, said two people
with knowledge of the talks.

Pfizer could make a presentation to Ratiopharm’s management as early as this week to support its bid, said the two people, who declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to
comment on the process. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and
Actavis Group hf are also bidding, and Ratiopharm is expected to
decide by the end of the month, said one of the people. A third
person knowledgeable about the process confirmed the timing.

Acquiring Ratiopharm could expand Pfizer’s generic business to about $11 billion, nearing the size of Teva, the world’s largest generic drugmaker with $13.9 billion in 2009 revenue.

A purchase of the Ulm-based company, which is being sold by the Merckle family to repay debt, would be the biggest generic- drug deal since Teva bought Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $7.4
billion in 2008. Ratiopharm’s biggest competitors in Germany are
Novartis AG’s Hexal and Stada Arzneimittel AG.