The past year has been a good one for investment bankers, lawyers and accountants, as companies have gone on a massive M&A binge fuelled by cheap debt and highly rated equity. It has also been a generally good year for shareholders, who are benefiting...
Mylan sticks with the Abbott habit
Mylan’s July announcement that it planned to acquire Abbott’s developed markets business looked like the start of a possible series of deals between big pharma and generics companies, but the survival of the transaction appeared in doubt following AbbVie’s decision to back out of...
Sandoz at the Novartis ‘Meet the Management’ event
Having agreed a major asset swap with GSK and hence simplified its business into three ‘powerhouse’ divisions, Novartis last week held its first ‘Meet the Management’ event for analysts and investors. This involved the top teams of each of the three divisions (and also...
Sun buys Ranbaxy and keeps the M&A merry-go-round turning
The announcement that Sun is to buy Ranbaxy from Daiichi Sankyo comes hot on the heels of Meda’s rejection of an approach by Mylan and Actavis’s successful takeover of Forest, illustrating the rapid pace at which the generic industry is changing shape – not...
Forest felled by Actavis
Actavis announced last week that it would pay an EV of $25bn to take control of Forest Labs, the equity component of which represents a 25% premium to Forest’s closing price the previous Friday. The deal will be 70% stock, 30% cash, with the...
2014: The year that the worm turns?
For years, pharma companies have bemoaned the difficult operating environment in Europe, gloomily predicting the ultimate collapse of the industry due to healthcare authorities that seemingly have little regard either for innovation or value for money, but focus relentlessly on cost alone. The sense...
Teva shoots the messenger – Jeremy Levin resigns
Teva announced last week that its CEO, Jeremy Levin, is to resign with immediate effect. This reportedly follows disagreements with the Teva Board over the implementation of the company’s strategy, as well as a slating from analysts and investors. Employees are also unhappy, after...
Pharmstandard’s plans show that not all shareholders are equal
It is always nice to have prejudices vindicated and this week, Pharmstandard delivered a truly impressive illustration of the dangers of doing business in Russia, particularly if you are the minority shareholder of a quoted company. Information about exactly what is going on has...
A, you’re adorable: suddenly Actavis is everybody’s favourite
Actavis appears to be in the centre of a social whirl, with reports emerging that it has been considering a takeover approach from Valeant, a merger offer from Mylan and the purchase of Warner Chilcott*. The first two appear to be connected, with Mylan...
Actavis shows its feminine side with purchase of Uteron
Actavis (née Watson) announced on Wednesday that it will spend up to $305m, including a $150m up-front payment and a potential $45m in near-term milestones for Uteron, a private Belgian company specialised in developing women’s health products. The co-founders of Uteron, one of whom...