Novartis AG announced Monday that it will buy generic drugmakers Eon Labs of the United States and Hexal AG of Germany for $8.3 billion, creating the world’s largest generic drug company.

Novartis will buy all of Hexal and 67.7 percent of Eon Labs from Germany’s Struengmann family for $7.4 billion, giving it a leading position in the major markets for generic versions of off-patent drugs.

Swiss-based Novartis will also make a tender offer to buy the rest of Eon Labs for $31 per share at a cost of about $1 billion, and merge the two companies into its Sandoz unit, it said.

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