By Eyk Henning 

FRANKFURT--A German activist investor has accumulated a 5% stake in Stada Arzneimittel AG, with a view to potentially pushing a sale of the generic drugmaker, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Active Ownership Fund SCS acquired a direct 5% stake and holds a further 2% via stock options, regulatory filings from early April show.

Representatives of the fund have approached large hedge funds in London and New York with the goal of gathering support for their plan, people familiar with the fund's thinking said. A spokeswoman for Active Ownership declined to comment.

With a wave of consolidation under way in the generic drug industry, Stada has been the target of takeover speculation for some time. But the company, with a current market value of roughly EUR2.4 billion ($2.76 billion), has so far sidestepped overtures from private-equity firms and bigger rivals, including India's biggest drugmaker by sales, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., people familiar with the matter said.

Complicating any hostile takeover approach is Stada's special share type, which has restricted transferability, enabling company management around Chief Executive Hartmut Retzlaff to block an unsolicited offer. Bankers said an activist shareholder with a large minority stake, however, could at least put management under pressure to consider exploring strategic options, including a sale.

Following Active Ownership's regulatory filings in April, several banks reached out to Stada to obtain a defense mandate. It is unclear whether Stada has chosen a bank.

Additionally, managers at some large hedge funds that were approached by Active Ownership's co-founders Florian Schuhbauer and Klaus Röhrig said they were skeptical about the plan because of questions about which suitors would emerge to buy Stada. One potential suitor could be India's Sun Pharma, people familiar with the matter said, adding it was unclear whether the company would pursue Stada.

A spokesman for Sun Pharma Tuesday denied the notion of a potential bid for Stada, adding it hasn't approached the German rival. A spokesman for Stada declined to comment.

Elsewhere, Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. would face tough antitrust hurdles after snapping up Stada's German rival Ratiopharm for around $5 billion in 2010. Mylan NV in the U.S. is currently digesting the more than $7 billion acquisition of Swedish pharmaceutical company Meda AB. Another potential acquirer, Perrigo Co., is currently struggling after it cut its guidance and lost its CEO, Joseph Papa, last month.

Write to Eyk Henning at eyk.henning@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2016 05:20 ET (09:20 GMT)