Blackstone Group LP is considering a takeover of listed Canadian pharmaceutical company Concordia Healthcare Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.
The buyout firm is in talks with Concordia about a potential transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. Talks are at an early stage and a deal may not happen, they said. Other bidders may also be interested in acquiring Concordia, they said.
Concordia, which is based in Toronto and owns and markets pharmaceutical products, has a market value of about $1.6 billion. Its shares have fallen about 67 percent in the last year.
A spokeswoman for Blackstone declined to comment. A representative for Concordia didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail seeking comment.
Concordia last year agreed to buy Amdipharm Mercury Ltd. in a deal valued at about $3.5 billion, part of an acquisition spree that’s seen it spend almost $5 billion on transactions since 2013. Its growth-by-acquisition strategy has drawn comparisons with that of its larger peer Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.
A month after the transactions, it agreed to sell a 14 percent stake to buyout firm Cinven.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson said at the time the Amdipharm deal would give the drugmaker the global scale it needs to go after larger targets. Thompson worked for Biovail Corp. before its 2010 merger with Valeant.