FRANKFURT, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Banks controlling the sale of Ratiopharm plan to put the German generic drugmaker on offer as a whole, two people familiar with the sale process told Reuters on Wednesday, rejecting a report that a break-up was imminent.
The lenders, keen to use proceeds from the sale to recoup some of the debt owed by Ratiopharm's founding Merckle family, expect to fetch more for the entire group than if parts are sold separately, one source familiar with their thinking said.
A sale in separate parts cannot be ruled out entirely but the option is seen as intricate because the target would have to be divided up without overlap or leftovers, the sources said.
An initial public offering (IPO) could also be an option, but it is unlikely because the procedure is much more costly than a sale, one source said.
Ratiopharm declined to comment.
The world's fourth-largest generics supplier is part of the heavily indebted empire built up by German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who killed himself in January after being forced to cede control of his conglomerate to lenders after huge trading losses.
His oldest son, Ludwig Merckle, inherited the main holdings, which include a majority stake in cement maker HeidelbergCement and drug wholesaler Phoenix.
HeidelbergCement this week unveiled plans to raise its capital by half, also saying that Merckle would sell most of his shares in the building materials company.
On Wednesday, German business daily Handelsblatt cited industry sources as saying a sale of Ratiopharm in separate slices was now the most likely option.
The group's Canadian business could be split off and Novartis' generics subsidiary Sandoz was seen as a likely bidder for that asset, the newspaper said, citing sources.
Teva, Sanofi-Aventis and Mylan are tipped as potential suitors for Ratiopharm.
Up to 15 suitors will receive the first documents on the sale in the next few weeks, sources told Reuters.
The procedure is managed by Commerzbank and Royal Bank of Scotland.
(Reporting by Frank Siebelt and Philipp Halstrick, writing by Ludwig Burger; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)