Investment Funds Eyeing Teva Acquisitions; Checkpoint Overtakes Teva as Israeli No. 1

Faced with a colossal debt and dizzying share losses, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries may soon be selling off major assets.

Investment funds Cerberus Capital Management and Advent International were looking at the possibility of bidding for Teva’s assets in Europe: its oncology and pain treatment divisions, according to Globes on Tuesday citing foreign media reports. Mylan and Novartis were also said to be planning on joining the bidding competition in the next few weeks.

Bloomberg estimates the worth of these assets at $700 million-$1 billion. Teva confirmed to Bloomberg last week that it was considering the sale of Medis, its Icelandic unit, which develops generic drugs for other companies.

Such a sell-off would enable Teva to reduce its $35 billion debt incurred in the purchase of Actavis, the generics division of Allergan.

Meanwhile, adding to the company’s painful plunge, Teva lost its status as Israel’s No. 1, as the IT security company Check Point Software Technologies passed it on the way up.

Check Point’s share price rose 2.01 percent on Wall Street Monday night to $108.25 to give a market cap of $17.693 billion, while Teva fell 0.81 percent to $17.16%, giving a market cap of $17.421 billion, Globes said.

Teva was Israel’s top firm for almost 20 years. The fall has been stunning. Teva was worth $70 billion just two years ago, and less than two weeks ago, before publishing its disappointing second quarter results, it was worth only $32 billion.