Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Valeant Pharma makes a hostile bid to buy Cephalon for $5.7 billion

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX), a Canadian drugmaker focused on neurology and dermatology, made a hostile bid to buy Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) for about $5.7 billion, or $73 a share in cash.

The offer is a 24 percent premium to today’s closing price of $58.75 for Frazer, Pennsylvania-based Cephalon. The company’s shares jumped to $72.89 at 5:32 p.m. New York time in trading after the close of the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Valeant, which merged last year with Biovail Corp. to become Canada’s largest drugmaker, said it will attempt to replace Cephalon’s current board of directors with its own nominees, after making several private approaches to the company. Cephalon has shown “unwillingness to engage in discussions in a timely manner,” Mississauga, Ontario-based Valeant said today in a statement.

There have been 219 acquisitions of U.S. pharmaceutical companies in the past 12 months, with an average disclosed price of $153.7 million and an average premium of 44 percent, according to Bloomberg data.

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