S&P: Barr Pharmaceuticals unchanged

Standard & Poor's said that Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s (BBB-/stable) announcement that it has raised its bid for Pliva, to $2.5 billion from $2.3 billion does not affect the rating or outlook on the company.

The agency said that the generic drug industry is currently consolidating and size and scale is becoming increasingly important.

The acquisition would greatly increase Barr's debt leverage, to more than 3 times debt to EBITDA, S&P noted.

However, S&P said it believes that Barr would continue to generate strong free cash flows after the acquisition, which would enable it, even at the higher bid price, to quickly de-lever.

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