23 April 2009
Glaxo deals for independent drugmaker
In the latest salvo in the roiling pharmaceuticals industry, British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline got that much bigger as they said they will pay $2.9 billion to buy Coral Gables, Fla.-based Stiefel Laboratories, a maker of dermatology products.
In addition, GlaxoSmithKline will also assume $400 million in debt and has agreed to pay up to $300 million more based on performance, bringing the potential total up to $3.6 billion.
Glaxo is the world’s second-biggest drugmaker by revenue after Pfizer.
Privately held Stiefel is the world’s biggest independent dermatology company.
The combined business would have an 8% share of the prescription dermatology market globally, the companies said.
Charles Stiefel will remain chief executive and chairman of Stiefel until the deal closes, then will lead the unit for Glaxo.
Glaxo has been moving to replace falling sales of older drugs facing generic competition by diversifying. The company has said it will lose about $5 billion worth of sales as demand falls for various drug treatments.
The deal should bring pretax cost savings of up to $240 million annually by 2012, officials said.
The deal should close in the third quarter.
For related information, go to www.isa.org/productivity.
Read questions answered by our experts or join the email list.
