Watson CEO sees measured international expansion

* "Big bang" deal unlikely, but possible

* Says not someone who likes a lot of debt

* Shares up 1.5 percent

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc (WPI.N), one of the largest U.S. generic drugmakers, is more likely to take a measured approach to its international expansion than to make a "big bang" deal, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

CEO Paul Bisaro also said he was unlikely to saddle Watson with a lot of debt in making an acquisition to broaden its marketing footprint into Europe and elsewhere.

"While I don't rule out the possibility of doing a sort of big bang opportunity, we're really looking for a more measured approach to European expansion and ... rest-of-world expansion," Bisaro told a Sanford C. Bernstein investor conference, which was broadcast over the Internet.

Watson currently lacks an international marketing footprint and Bisaro has made no secret about his desire to expand globally. Investors have been worried about the possibility the California-based company would strike a deal that hurts earnings or otherwise weighs financially on Watson.

The CEO said the company's "first step has to be acquiring a company of reasonable magnitude that we can use that as the base to build our international footprint.

"Certainly there are assets available that you could do sort of a big bang and get 40 products or 40 markets overnight," Bisaro said.

"But I think, frankly, those opportunities are difficult to manage from a number of perspectives -- the amount of debt you'd have to acquire, dealing with the integration of the magnitude of a company of that size."

Citing his history at Watson and as a top executive at generic drugmaker Barr Pharmaceuticals, Bisaro said: "I have always been in organizations that are very prudent about the debt they take on ... I'm not somebody who likes to have a lot of debt on the books."

Most of the potential acquisition targets Watson is examining are in established European markets, as well as emerging markets in Europe or elsewhere, Bisaro said.

One company on the block is Germany's Ratiopharm, the world's fourth-largest generic drugmaker that is part of the Merckle family business empire.

Asked specifically about Ratiopharm, Bisaro said it was "an interesting opportunity," including its presence in the hot area of biotech medicines.

"Some of these larger assets might be sold in pieces," Bisaro said. "It's possible that the pieces might be more interesting than the whole. So I don't rule out any of those options." (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Andre Grenon)