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Icelandic billionaire Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson made a preliminary bid for control of Actavis Group hf, a generic drug maker that has spent more than $1.66-billion on acquisitions since 2005. Mr. Bjorgolfsson's Novator investment group is bidding 85.23 Icelandic kronur per class A share of Actavis, valuing the company at €3.3-billion ($4.9-billion). Mr. Bjorgolfsson, the chairman of Actavis, already owns 38.5 per cent of the company through Amber International Ltd. and other funds. Actavis purchased Russia's Zio Zdorovje and Florida-based Abrika Pharmaceuticals Inc. in the last year as the company tried to become the world's third-biggest generic drug maker. Actavis last week pulled out of a bid for Merck KGaA's generic-drug making unit. ACT (Reykjavik) rose 9.3 kronur to 87.50 kronur ($1.52).

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