One lesson to draw from recent M&A in the pharma space: Superbug drugs are hot. Last year, Actavis (ACT) plunked down $675 million for Durata Therapeutics, whose drug Dalvance fights some of the nastiest specimens of the class known as gram-positive bacteria. And Merck (MRK) is in the midst of an $8.4 billion buyout of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, which last year got two new drugs OK’d for both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria that had
Drugmakers clustered near the top of IBD’s Stocks On The Move list Tuesday afternoon. Actavis (ACT), an Ireland-based maker of generic and branded drugs, shot up more than 7% in huge volume in Tuesday afternoon trading on the stock market today. That followed Monday’s 2% gain, as Actavis announced it will acquire Botox maker Allergan (AGN) for more than $66 billion in stock and cash, potentially creating a pharmaceuticals giant with a market cap
Generic and specialty drugmaker Actavis agreed to acquire Allergan for more than $66 billion on Monday, potentially creating a pharmaceutical giant with $23 billion in annual sales and a market cap around $147 billion. Actavis (ACT) will pay $129.22 plus 0.3683 Actavis share for each share of Allergan (AGN). That’s equal to $220.54 based on Monday’s closing price. It is appreciably above the hostile bid that Valeant Pharmaceuticals