Roche said to have decided against bidding for rest of Chugai

Roche Holding AG decided against bidding for the almost 40 percent of drugmaker Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. that it doesn't already own and is instead focused on its $8.3 billion acquisition of InterMune Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter.

As it worked on the InterMune deal, announced Sunday, Roche was also considering a bid for Chugai, the person said, asking not to be identified because the talks were private. The Swiss company has decided against pursuing a deal with Chugai for now after the Japanese company's management signaled opposition to a bid, the person said.

Roche, which owned 62 percent of Chugai as of June 30, was in talks to acquire the rest of the shares for about $10 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Aug. 15. Chugai later said it is "in no way in the process of reviewing any plan to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Roche."