Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is so acquisitive that Credit Suisse Group analysts dubbed the generic pharmaceuticals company “The Mighty Israeli PacMan.” But will another company jump in to stop Teva midchomp into its $7.46 billion acquisition of Barr Pharmaceuticals?

From TevaUSA.com

At least one analyst suggests it is a possibility. Credit Suisse specialty pharmaceuticals analyst Marc Goodman–who opined that the takeover is “a great deal for Teva”–wrote today that it is a competitive world out there for generic pharmaceutical companies, which are being snapped up rapidly. “The key remaining question is whether another company like Sandoz or Actavis or even a company that is not so obvious, i.e., not currently a player in the generics industry, chooses to bid as well,” he wrote.

Teva must hope not, having been stung before by competitive bidding just last year, when it lost out in trying to buy Merck’s generics unit. The business instead went to Mylan for $6.6 billion.

Can Teva avoid the same disappointment now?

The Barr deal won plaudits from analysts, and it will give Teva 25% market share in generic drugs in the U.S. Today investors sent Teva’s stock up 10%.

Whether Teva actually wins Barr or whether a rival tries to jump the deal will come down–of course–to money. Makers of generic drugs are getting some pretty good prices right now. Today, for instance, Zentiva, a Czech maker of generic drugs, rejected a $2.8 billion offer from Sanofi-Aventis to acquire the 75% of the company that it doesn’t already own. Zentiva–which also has been pursued by Czech company PPF–believed the offer was underpriced. On the flip side, investors hurt the shares of Germany’s Fresenius after it agreed to buy APP Pharmaceuticals because the $3.7 billion price seemed too high.

Teva, for its part, is paying at 42% premium to where the shares were trading before word of a deal broke, around 11 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Will that be enough in the end? “It will be interesting to watch because many of the generics deals have been taking place at higher valuations, especially when the acquired asset represented the strategic first step into the generics sector,” Goodman wrote.

Goldman Sachs analysts noted today that the acquisition valuation of Barr falls at “the low end” for recent strategic deals. The mean Ebitda valuation for such deals is around 15 times. That may leave room for rivals.

Consider Sandoz. It knows Barr well, primarily because the two companies have sued each other for patent infringement going back at least to 1998. Barr just sued Sandoz in December, alleging that its rival had stepped on its patent for an oral contraceptive.

It isn’t a stretch to think Sandoz and Actavis may lust after a property that Teva covets. All three companies were reported to have pursued the Merck generics business that went to Mylan. Teva is likely hoping that this is one time where you find one, but don’t find the others.