Taisho leads bids for India's Paras Pharma -report

MUMBAI Oct 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Taisho Pharmaceuticals 4535.T has emerged the top bidder to buy a majority stake in Indian drugmaker Paras Pharmaceuticals, which owns popular brands such as anti-cold medication D'Cold and pain relieving ointment Moov, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

The Japanese company, which has no presence in India, has offered more than six times Paras's estimated revenues of 5 billion ($113 million) to 5.5 billion rupees, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed industry executive.

Private equity firms who own 70 percent of Paras are seeking bids from global firms that include Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), GlaxoSmithkline (GSK.L), Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) and Daiichi Sankyo (4568.T).

Paras Pharma founder Girish Patel and his family own the remainder 30 percent.

"We are interested in entering the Indian market. But it is not true that we have offered to buy the PE's stake," a spokesman for Taisho, one of Japan's top 10 drugmakers, told the paper. ($1=44.3 rupees) (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)