In what looks like the perfect prescription for growth, Teva Pharmaceutical is buying rival generic drugmaker Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. The over $7 billion deal, plus about $1.5 billion in debt, is aimed at expanding Teva’s leadership in the U.S. market and fortifying its presence in Europe. Israel-based Teva, the world’s largest generic drug company, plans to buy New Jersey-based Barr for $66.50 per share in cash and stock. The price represents a 42 percent premium to Barr’s closing price on Wednesday, the companies said. Teva told analysts in February it was seeking to extend its U.S. market share to 30 percent of generic prescriptions by 2012, up from about 20 percent. Barr is about the fifth-largest generic company by U.S. prescriptions.

Freddie Mac may have its own prescription for keeping itself alive. The mortgage giant is considering raising capital by selling as much as $10 billion in new shares to investors, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report comes after the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve announced a plan on Sunday to shore up the balance sheets and borrowing capabilities of Freddie Mac and sister company Fannie Mae. Such a share sale, which has not yet been determined, could forestall a full government rescue, the WSJ said. The main buyers for any new-stock issues are likely to be existing shareholders worldwide, the paper said, citing one person involved in the discussion.

And what better way to the end the week than with the latest installment of the classic soap opera, As My Yahoo Turns. In the latest episode, a person with knowledge of the plans says Yahoo is unlikely to get into a bidding war over AOL with Microsoft Corp because if Microsoft gets in the way, Yahoo could instead renew talks over News Corp’s Web properties. Yahoo, seeking to shape an independent growth strategy after rebuffing Microsoft’s bid to take it over, has kept in contact with News Corp, the source said, but discussions with Time Warner Inc about AOL appeared further along. Did you get all that? News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch said just last week that a deal between his company, which owns the popular MySpace online social network, and Yahoo was “very unlikely.” But that was last week. Once again, stay tuned …

More deals of the day:

** Zentiva advised its shareholders to reject a $2.1 billion takeover offer by France’s Sanofi-Aventis, as investors awaited a higher one in the bidding war with a Czech financial fund.

** The private equity arm of AMP Ltd has received several offers for Jeminex Group, a company in its portfolio with an enterprise value of up to A$400 million ($388 million), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

** Rambler Media, the British-registered owner of Russia’s Rambler Internet portal, said it has agreed to sell the Begun advertising agency to Google Inc for $140 million.

** Spanish construction firm ACS has agreed to sell its 45.3 percent stake in energy utility Union Fenosa to France’s EDF and a deal may be announced on Friday, Spain’s ABC newspaper reported.