Abbott makes offer for Solvay's drug unit- WSJ

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Competing with Swiss drugmaker Nycomed, U.S. pharmaceuticals company Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) has made an offer to buy the drug unit of Belgian conglomerate Solvay SA (SOLB.BR), the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The paper said details of Abbott's offer could not be learned.

Abbott and Solvay could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular business hours in the United States and Belgium.

Nycomed [NYCMD.UL], the private equity-owned Swiss drugmaker, recently made a fully financed 4 to 4.5 billion-euro ($5.9 to $6.6 billion) offer to buy the unit, people familiar with the matter told Reuters last week. [ID:nLI219211] ($1=.6792 Euro) (Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)