It seems like hostile takeover bids in the life sciences industry may be de rigueur (how can anyone forget the Sanofi-Aventis/Genzyme hostile takeover saga that dragged on for almost a year). Interestingly, 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!
Late yesterday, Valeant Pharmaceuticals announced plans for a hostile takeover bid for Cephalon, a 24 year old Pennsylvania-based biopharmaceutical company with eight products on the US market and more than 100 products worldwide. The takeover bid became “hostile” after Cephalon’s management team rejected earlier proposals.
Cephalon’s main focus is on nervous system disorders, pain and cancers. It is one of the world’s top 10 and most profitable biopharmaceutical companies. The company had revenues of $2.81 billion last year from sales of its narcolepsy treatment Provigil ($1.2 billion) and its leukemia treatment Treanda ($393 million). Also, according to the Cephalon website, there are several oncology products (lung, melanoma and solid tumors) in its development pipeline. In 2010 Cephalon announced seven acquisitions many of which were intended to bolster its oncology expertise.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, long a struggling speciality pharma company, merged with Biovail Corporation late last year and re-emerged as a re-invented company with substantial financial resources at its disposal. Prior to the Biovail merger, Valeant had a long history of acquiring smaller companies to bolster its R&D capability and its flagging drug development pipeline. The new company specializes in neurology and dermatology and has a diverse product portfolio that consists of branded pharmaceuticals, branded generics and over-the-counter medicines. In 2009, its revenues were $1.65 billion and 2010 revenues (to be released) are likely to exceed $2.0 billion.
According to Bloomberg News, Valeant has offered to buy Cephalon for $5.7 billion in cash. Under terms of the offer, Valeant would pay $73 a share in cash; a 24 percent premium on Cephalon’s Tuesday closing stock price or a 29 percent premium to company’s 30 day trading average. Not surprisingly Cephalon executives summarily rejected the offer as “too low.” Several financial analysts concur with Cephalon and contend that the $73 per share cash offer undervalues the company’s true worth. Valeant and Cephalon are main competitors in the oncology and neurology markets.
Unlike the Sanofi/Genzyme bid, where it was clear at the outset to most observers that Sanofi would ultimately prevail, it isn’t clear whether or not Valeant will be successful in its attempt for Cephalon. While Cephalon has had its share of trouble with FDA over the past few years (for a variety of infractions including off-label marketing of Provigil), the company is in much better shape than Genzyme and the current management team has more resources at its disposable to ward off Valeant’s hostile takeover bid.
The downside of a Valeant-Cephalon merger would be job loss for many current Cephalon employees. This is because Valeant’s bid for Cephalon appears to be a “pipeline grab” rather than an R&D play. Typically, these types of acquisitions result in reorganization and downsizing of personnel because of duplication of effort. Only time will tell if Valeant will prevail.
Stay tuned for more late breaking news!
Until next time...
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