The pharmaceutical M&A sector has gotten very quiet in February, with just five deals announced as of Feb. 17. Compared with the 11 announced in January 2016 and 13 announced in February 2015, deal making has definitely slowed down. So it was good news to hear that Mylan NV (NASDAQ: MYL) agreed to pay $9.9 billion, including debt, to acquire Swedish generic drug maker Meda AB (STO: MEDA).
Back in 2014, when Mylan was still based in the United States and known as Mylan, Inc., it made an unsuccessful run at Meda. Of course, late last year it carried on an all-out hostile takeover battle for Perrigo Company (NYSE: PRGO) that proved unsuccessful in the end.
This time around, the Meda acquisition was met with much criticism for the high price Mylan agreed to pay, but others deemed it a long-term strategic move. The combined business will have critical mass across commercial channels in Europe, and add new channels in China, Russia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This deal strengthens Mylan’s specialty, generics and over-the-counter product while added a strong, complementary therapeutics presence.
