New York-based Forest Laboratories Inc. is reportedly nearing an agreement to acquire specialty pharmaceutical company Aptalis Holdings Inc. Forest will buy Aptalis from private equity firm TPG Capital LP for about $3 billion.

Reuters, citing a source, said that a deal announcement could come as early as Wednesday. Negotiations, however, were still being finalized. Forest's board was meeting Tuesday night and was expected to approve the deal, Wall Street Journal said in a separate report.

TPG Capital purchased Aptalis, at the time called Axcan Pharma Inc., in 2008 for about $1.3 billion. Axcan later merged with Dutch pharma Eurand NV to create a company that was renamed Aptalis, the report said.

According to Reuters, Aptalis had filed for an initial public offering on December 26. The company makes drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders and cystic fibrosis. Aptalis has slaes and marketing operations in the US, Canada, France and Germany, and has manufacturing operations in North America and Europe, WSJ said.