In The News Archives
Cephalon Stock Rises Above Valeant Takeover Bid of $73 a Share
Mar 30, 2011Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) surged as much as 31 percent to $77.25 in early Nasdaq trading, higher than a hostile takeover bid from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX), Canada’s largest drugmaker.
Valeant’s offer of about $5.7 billion, or $73 a share in cash, was made last night after earlier proposals were rejected, the companies said. The bid for Cephalon, the Frazer, Pennsylvania-based maker of sleep and pain drugs, presents a 24 percent premium to yesterday’s closing price of $58.75.
If successful, the acquisition would be the largest hostile takeover in the industry since Sanofi-Aventis SA bid for Genzyme Corp. last year. Valeant, which merged in 2010 with Biovail Corp., said on Feb. 1 that it would buy Zug, Switzerland-based PharmaSwiss SA for $480 million to expand in Europe. In January, Chief Executive Officer J. Michael Pearson said Valeant would seek acquisitions to expand its markets globally.
