a logo of pharmaceutical company zentiva is seen outside the zentiva factory in prague czech republic may 6 2021 reutersdavid w cernyfile photo london jan 20 reuters  polands largest drug maker polpharma is working on a possible 4 billion takeover of czech rival zentiva and is looking for investors to join its bid in return for a minority stake in the advent international company three sources said discussions between polpharma and potential partners are at an early stage and the polish company has yet decide how it would structure a joint bidding vehicle the sources said on condition of anonymity warning that no deal was certain polpharmas move comes after advent snubbed proposals from banks last year for an initial public offering ipo of zentiva as stock market listings slowed down in the second half of 2021 the sources told reuters polpharma needs a deeppocketed private equity firm to help finance the bid that could value zentiva at 3 billion to 35 billion euros 4 billion and it has hired jpmorgan jpmn to select potential investors the sources said a representative for polpharma said it was constantly looking for acquisition targets and partnership opportunities in its own and new territories but declined to comment on any specific deal jpmorgan declined to comment while advent was not immediately available private equity firms have paid high prices to hoover up large generic drug portfolios from major pharmaceutical firms in recent years playing a key role in the creation of big industry players but some are now looking to realise their investments the market for generic drugs is expected to grow from 4116 billion in 2020 to 6503 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 96 according to a study by bcc research bostonbased private equity firm advent bought zentiva which makes a wide range of generic and overthecounter drugs from french pharmaceutical giant sanofi sasypa for 19 billion euros in 2018 zentivas medicines are sold in more than 40 countries and the praguebased company has manufacturing sites in the czech republic romania and india according to its website under advents ownership zentivas core earnings have risen to about 200 million euros through a series of acquisitions including the takeover of british firm creo pharmaceuticals in 2019 and the purchase of the central and eastern european business of rival alvogen in 2020 one of the sources said zentiva led by chief executive nick haggar could be valued at a multiple of more than 15 times its core earnings the source said adding that its valuation surged after the full integration of the alvogen business advent however is in no rush to part ways with its portfolio company and could back the business for another year before exploring strategic options two of the sources said the bid price is key to luring advent to the negotiating table one of them said advent is not running any auction process it is up to interested parties to force their hand on nov 15 zentiva denied a czech press report that advent was looking to sell the company in a transaction worth between 24 and 3 billion euros