UPDATE: On Monday, Allergan accepted a $66 billion takeout bid from Actavis, giving Allergan a $219 per share valuation and paying $7 billion more than the company's current market cap. Valeant and Bill Ackman are reportedly, finally, walking away from their long-running conquest for Allergan now that the deal is done and Actavis has beat its best offer by $6 billion.
Dive Brief:
- The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Actavis is close to securing an approximately $60 billion buyout of Botox-maker Allergan.
- Allergan has been pursued aggressively by activist investor Bill Ackman, his firm Pershing Square, and the allied pharma company Valeant. An Actavis-Allergan deal would, to put it lightly, throw a wrench into that effort.
- One striking aspect of the deal is that it would essentially double the size of both firms, which are each valued at just over $60 billion. The two companies' boards are slated to meet at some point this week.
Dive Insight:
Full details are still scarce, but the speculation is that Actavis will pay a premium over Allergan's $59 billion market cap. The resulting company would have a broad portfolio that includes Actavis' top-selling Alzheimer's med Namenda and Allergan's Botox. “This is going to be a Big Pharma,” said Ronny Gal, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, in an interview with WSJ.
If the deal goes through, chances are that Ackman and Valeant will pursue a deal with Pfizer spinoff animal health firm Zoetis, in which Ackman bought a $2 billion stake last week.