Watson Pharmaceuticals Incorporated said Wednesday it would buy privately held Arrow Group for $1.75 billion, finalizing a long-expected deal by the U.S. generic drugmaker to expand internationally. In acquiring Arrow, Watson will gain a generic drugmaker with $647 million in revenue last year, selling drugs in more than 20 countries. The combined company will have revenue of more than $3 billion. Watson executives have said publicly that they wanted to make an acquisition that would allow the company to sell its products internationally and better compete in the increasingly global generic-drug industry. Watson's main rivals in the U.S. market—Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Mylan Incorporated, and the Sandoz unit of Novartis—have greater international market share, due to their own acquisitions of global companies.
