Allergan’s generics drug business, Actavis, will still be sold to an Israeli firm despite the company’s multi-billion dollar deal with Pfizer falling through.

Allergan CEO Brent Saunders was quoted on American TV network CNBC saying the €36 billion sale to Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will go ahead and was expected to close by June.

Actavis has two manufacturing plants in Malta – Bulebel and Ħal Far – and these are expected to join Teva’s network when the deal is closed, Sergio Vella, Actavis vice president manufacturing operations Western Europe, told this newspaper.

Mr Vella confirmed the target date for concluding the Teva deal was June. Originally, the sale to Teva was to be completed by the first quarter of this year.

Actavis is the largest pharmaceutical operator in Malta, employing hundreds of people.

On Wednesday the €140 billion deal between American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and Allergan fell through after the US Treasury imposed a regulation preventing deals that saw American companies move their base to countries with a more favourable taxation environment.

The regulation removed the tax benefits New York-based Pfizer had hoped to gain from the deal with Ireland’s Allergan that would have seen it shift its headquarters to Dublin. Pfizer will pay Allergan €132 million to reimburse expenses incurred because of the failed deal.

Allergan’s generic drug business, Actavis, was not part of the Pfizer deal. Talks on the Pfizer deal started last November.

Allergan bought Actavis in March last year but, by July, had already started talks for its sale to Teva. The ownership of Actavis has been transferred several times over the past few years and in 2013 it had downsized the research and development department.