Dermatology Drug Portfolios Trade Hands

Dermatology Drug Portfolios Trade Hands

Dermatology physician practics are all the rage among private equity groups these days. Thirty deals targeting this specialty have been announced in the first seven months of 2018. All have been acquired by a private equity firm or one of their platform companies. But in the first week of August, two international pharmaceutical companies acquired portfolios of dermatology brands from the likes of Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) and Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE). Barcelona-based Almirall, S.A. (MCE: ALM) was the only company to disclose a price in its announcement. It agreed to pay $550 million upfront for Allergan’s U.S. dermatology portfolio,  and a possible earn-out of up to $100 million based on... Read More »
Takeda Takes Aim at Shire

Takeda Takes Aim at Shire

Big Pharma deals are making a comeback. Or so it seems from the speculation around Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG). Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. (OTCQB: TKPYY) has been buzzing around the UK-based Shire for nearly a month, making bid after bid. It seemed to begin on April 16, when Shire sold its oncology business to the French drug maker Servier, for $2.4 billion in cash. In 2017, the 0ncology business generated revenues of $262 million. The total consideration represents a revenue multiple of 9.2x 2017 revenues. The acquisition gives Servier a direct commercial presence in the United States and boosts its presence in cancer. Servier’s products will be commercialized in the... Read More »
Deal(s) of the Week: Teva, Take Two

Deal(s) of the Week: Teva, Take Two

Debt has been a key deal driver this year, particularly in the hospital sector, where Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH), Quorum Health Corporation (NYSE: QHC) and Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) are shedding less desirable assets. Joining them now is generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA), which is shouldering $35 billion of debt brought on by its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan’s (NYSE: AGN) line of generics, announced in July 2015. The company hasn’t announced an acquisition since September 2016. What a difference a year makes, as generic drug prices have been squeezed and the company has been selling off non-core assets to pay down its... Read More »
Dermatology Drug Portfolios Trade Hands

Teva Begins to Pare Its Portfolio

Last week, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TVA) divested more than $1.1 billion of assets in response to increasing financial pressure. Just this August, Credit Suisse lowered its rating on Teva’s stock from neutral to underperform, citing industry-wide pricing pressure for generic drugs. Credit Suisse’s announcement follows Teva’s acquisition of Allergan’s (NYSE: AGN) generic division, Anda Inc., just a year ago, for $500 million. Teva is looking to pay down more than $35 billion in debt–an amount that exceeds its market value. To do so, the Israeli drug maker has pursued divestiture opportunities for its global Women’s Health business, as well as its Oncology and... Read More »

MCOs Make Deals to Combat High Drug Costs

The rising cost of prescription drugs was part of many candidates’ campaign platforms in the 2016 national elections. The topic has not gone away, and is certainly a factor in the dearth of Big Pharma deals in 2017.  Through June 15, M&A in the Pharma sector is down 43%, to 44 transactions, compared with the same period in 2016, which had 77 transactions. Spending is also down in for the first six months of 2017. Through June 15, acquirers announced $19.2 billion in committed financing, down 66% from the same period in 2016, when approximately $56.5 billion was spent. There are deals being done, regarding this issue, but most are not M&A. In fact, several managed care... Read More »