Health and Healthcare
As Valeant Ups Salix Buyout, Will Endo Come Back?
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Monday morning, Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLXP) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) both announced that they had entered into an agreement on their plan to merge based on a new price for Salix shares. Valeant upped the ante to $173, all in cash, from $158, originally offered in mid-February. That would the total transaction an enterprise value of $15.8 billion.
What prompted this new offer from Valeant was an offer made by Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) last week. Endo made a bid for Salix in a private letter sent to the board of directors. The offer was reportedly for roughly $175 per share. This deal would consist of 25% in cash and the remainder in stock.
It looks like it is too late for Endo and that the dance is nearly over at this point, barring any issues with Valeant closing the deal.
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Chairman and CEO of Valeant, J. Michael Pearson, further explained the terms of the deal:
This revised offer provides Salix shareholders with all-cash at a significant premium and the certainty to close by April 1. By offering a significant premium with a 100% cash offer, eliminating market and company equity risk that could arise from other non-cash offers with a 4+ month closing timeline instead of a closing by April 1st, our new arrangement creates significant shareholder value for Salix. In addition, the transaction remains modestly accretive in 2015 and will be more than 20% accretive in 2016.
Salix had entertained a few dance partners, but nothing really jived. Last year, Salix was pursued by Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) and actually was close to a deal. Allergan walked away from the deal and was instead bought by Actavis PLC (NYSE: ACT).
After Allergan walked away, both Endo and Valeant began pursuing Salix. Some reports signaled that Endo made an offer that came up short of Valeant’s offer of $158 at that time. By the looks of it, Valeant may get the last laugh, if this current transaction is confirmed by the companies.
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Shares of Salix were up 2.7% at $173.96 in premarket trading Monday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $157.08 and a 52-week trading range of $86.00 to $172.98.
Valeant shares were up about 1% at $199.51. The consensus price target is $52.38, and the 52-week trading is $106.00 to $206.84.
Endo shares were up 0.9% to $88.11. The 52-week trading range is $53.62 to $92.80, and the consensus price target is $92.56.
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