By Tatiana Bautzer and Arno Schuetze
SAO PAULO/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd has invited Brazilian pharmaceutical companies and financial investors to bid for its business in Latin America, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
The investment banking unit of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) is managing the sale and has invited Brazilian pharmaceutical companies Ache Laboratorios Farmaceuticos SA, EMS Pharma, Biolab Farmaceutica SA and Eurofarma Laboratorios SA to bid for the local unit, the sources added, asking for anonymity to discuss private talks.
Financial investors such as private equity firm Advent International Corp have also been invited to participate, one of the sources added.
Advent, Ache, EMS, Eurofarma and Bank of America did not immediately comment on the matter. Biolab declined to comment.
The bid format is not yet defined, as some of the strategic bidders may be interested only in Brazilian operations and others may bid for the whole regional business.
Takeda expects to fetch more than $1 billion for the Latin American operations. In Brazil, Takeda owns popular over the counter drug brands.
Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported some of the interested parties on Thursday.