TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel's largest pharmacy chain Super-Pharm (Israel) Ltd is in talks to acquire Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' plant in the coastal city of Ashdod, Israeli media said on Sunday.
The Calcalist website said Super-Pharm would pay up to 90 million shekels ($26 million) and is prepared to commit to continue employing the factory's 70 workers, the Calcalist financial news website said.
Super-Pharm is not interested in all of Teva's activities in Ashdod but only the pharmaceutical preparation activities that have an estimated 100 million shekels in annual sales, the Globes news site said.
Most of the plant's operations involve preparing liquid medications for treatments in hospitals and homes such as antibiotics and chemotherapy as well as food for premature babies.
A spokeswoman for Teva, the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, declined to comment on the reports. Officials at Super-Pharm were not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this month Teva said it would cut its workforce by more than a quarter and give up many of its manufacturing plants including the one in Ashdod in a much-anticipated overhaul to help pay off its nearly $35 billion debt.
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Teva workers have been protesting the layoffs at various Teva facilities across the country and outside homes of company officials for the past week.
($1 = 3.4817 shekels)
(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer)