German generic drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel is opening its books to potential acquirers after coming under pressure from its largest shareholder to consider various take-over approaches.
"For this purpose, a data room has been established and the potential bidders - three to date - have been invited to conduct multi-stage due diligence," Stada said in a statement on Saturday.
Due diligence gives potential buyers access to the target company's books and data.
Stada has become the subject of a bidding war between private equity firms Advent, Cinven and a third group that sources have identified as Bain Capital. Advent made a binding 3.6 billion euro ($3.8 billion) bid on Thursday and activist investor AOC, Stada's biggest single shareholder with a more than 5 percent stake, called a day later for the firm's boards to run a non-biased, transparent sales process.