Pfizer wheeled out its chief executive and pledged to invest in growth as it sought to win the bidding to buy German generic drugmaker Ratiopharm, sources familiar with the situation said.

Jeff Kindler and an array of top-rank managers at the world's biggest drugmaker arrived on Friday in the southern German town of Ulm, where Ratiopharm is based, for a closed-door presentation on their vision for Ratiopharm, should Pfizer succeed with what sources have previously said is around a €3 billion bid.

Several sources familiar with the meeting between the Pfizer executives and about 50 Ratiopharm managers said the visitors pledged to build out Ratiopharm's European generics business and increase production capacity.

"Pfizer promised investment," one source told Reuters on Saturday.

Pfizer and Ratiopharm, which is being sold by the family of late German billionaire Adolf Merckle to repay creditors, declined comment.

Pfizer is the second of three suitors to present its concept for the Ratiopharm business, following generics industry leader Teva Pharmaceutical Industries a few days ago.

Icelandic generics maker Actavis is expected to outline its offer on Monday.

The sources told Reuters that Pfizer's plan was to integrate Ratiopharm into its Established Products business unit and make it the centre of Pfizer's generics business in Europe.The Ratiopharm name would be retained and developed into a worldwide brand, the sources said. Pfizer is keen to push ahead with Ratiopharm's biotechnology generics, known as biosimilars, an area where Pfizer has not been active, the sources added.

Pfizer's Established Products business in Europe has achieved sales of about €3 billion up to now but would be expected to grow substantially after the addition of Ratiopharm to reach sales of around €5 billion, the sources said.

Like rival drug majors such as Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis, Pfizer aims to couple its traditional research-based drugs businesses with generics to turn the loss of patent exclusivity - at least in part - to its advantage.

Pfizer has already struck a string of collaborations and acquisitions to bolster its range of generics, particularly in off-patent injectable drugs, unveiling an alliance with India's Strides Arcolab earlier this year.

Analysts say a takeover of Ratiopharm would help Pfizer sink production costs in its generic business.

Reassuring Report
Following the Pfizer presentation, Ratiopharm's management wrote an internal letter to employees summarizing its content.

"The investor is targeting significant growth in the coming years and, with the Ratiopharm group, aims to achieve market leadership in generics," Ratiopharm Chief Executive Oliver Windholz said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

"The bidder emphasised the high efficiency of Ratiopharm's domestic and foreign production sites and told the meeting it was ready to make investments in Ulm," the letter said.

Industrial heir Ludwig Merckle put Ratiopharm on the block as part of concessions made to creditors by his father Adolf Merckle, who committed suicide in January 2009 after ceding control of his business empire to lenders during the financial crisis.

Sources have told Reuters that a decision on the sale of Ratiopharm is unlikely before the end of March.

The company vies with Stada Arzneimittel for second place among generics makers in Germany, the world's second biggest generics market, trailing the Hexal brand owned by Novartis's Sandoz unit.