Valeant, a Canadian pharmaceutical company, acquired US medic for us $2.6 billion

NetEase Finance on September 4 Valeant pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company, announced on Monday that it would spend $2.6 billion to acquire Medicis pharmaceutical to strengthen its skin care business and benefit from the aging population of the United States The move is the latest in a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare industry in recent months, with Valeant's attempt last year to acquire cephalon, a biotech company, failing Valeant, based in Canada, will pay $44 per share in cash to acquire Medicis, based in the US That's 39% higher than Medicis's closing price on Friday Valeant CEO Michael Pearson said Medicis has "solid strategic alignment" with its company and that its acne and beauty injection products will make Valeant a leader in the skincare industry Medicis is best known for its hyaluronic acid based wrinkle smoothing skin care product Restylane, which competes with Allergan's juvederm skin care product Pearson said that the double-digit growth of the beauty and skin care market is due to the aging population, who continue to spend a lot of money in this market, hoping to look and feel young The deal, announced on Monday, comes at a time when M & A activity in the healthcare industry has been active recently This summer's ruling of the U.S Supreme Court supports the Obama administration's healthcare law and also increases the certainty of M & A in related industries Last month, Aetna, an American health insurance company, spent $5.7 billion on Coventry health care to strengthen its ability to sell insurance for the poor and the elderly, which is supported by the government WellPoint made a similar move, spending $4.9 billion in cash on amerigroup Corp in July At the same time, as patents for the best-selling drugs expire, pharmaceutical companies have been looking for ways to help them make up for revenue Valeant's deal with Medicis is expected to close in the first half of next year In the six months after the transaction, the annual synergy cost of the two companies is expected to reach US $225 million The two boards of directors have unanimously approved the deal Medicis' revenue last year was $721 million, while Valeant's was $2.46 billion After the merger, the company will operate in Arizona under the name of Medicis The combined U.S skin and beauty business is expected to generate more than $1.2 billion in revenue this year Valeant has been high-profile in the trading market since Pearson took over as CEO four years ago During this period, Valeant completed about 50 transactions, targeting well-known companies and products rather than investing in risky research and development Pearson said the company replaced research and development costs with acquisitions However, his efforts are not always successful Last year, Valeant tried to spend $5.7 billion on a hostile bid for cephalon, but in the end it accepted a $6.8 billion offer from Teva, an Israeli generic manufacturer Pearson said skin care is a very attractive market because it is generally cash transactions, without the reimbursement pressure of medical insurance companies Valeant, which hopes to diversify its business, also sells neurology drugs This summer, it also paid $312 million for oral health company orapharm JPMorgan securities acted as Valeant's acquisition advisor Medicis is advised by Deutsche Bank Securities and New York investment firm Roberts Mitani.