Drugs giant Shire keen on £12.4bn takeover of Swiss rival Actelion
Monday, June 08, 2015
Swiss drug maker becomes target, according to report.
The drugs giant Shire is considering a £12.4bn takeover of its Swiss rival Actelion, according to a report.
The FTSE 100 company made an informal approach to Actelion several weeks ago, The Sunday Times said.
The Swiss drug maker reportedly rebuffed the initial bid, which represented a 20pc premium on its stock market value.
Actelion, based near Basel, specialises in treatments for rare diseases, such as pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious problem with the blood supply around the lungs that can be inherited. It reported sales of £1.4bn and a net profit of £414m last year.
Shire’s reported takeover attempt is just the latest in a spree by its Danish chief executive Flemming Ornskov, amid a strong appetite for deals across the pharmaceutical sector.
He bought NPS Pharma for $5.2bn in January, months after a bid by the US drug maker AbbVie to buy Shire itself collapsed over concerns about a clampdown on American companies avoiding tax. Mr Ornskov also bought Meritage Pharma, the maker of a treatment for a rare allergic reaction causing swelling of the oesophagus, for £45m.
A takeover of Actelion would be the Dane’s biggest move yet towards meeting his goal of doubling sales by 2020.
AbbVie contributed £1.5bn in compensation to Shire’s acquisition fund when it backed out of the deal. The American company then turned its attention to domestic rival Pharmacyclics, which it bought for $21bn in March.
Pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of low borrowing costs to replenish their pipelines of profitable and promising drugs.
Spokesmen for Shire and Actelion declined to comment.
telegraph.co.uk
