09/28/2009 (4:26 pm)
Solvay sells drugs unit to Abbott for $6.6 billion
Belgian drugs, chemicals and plastics maker Solvay said on Monday it would sell its drugs unit to U.S. partner Abbott Laboratories for 4.5 billion euros ($6.61 billion) in cash and reinvest in chemicals and plastics.
Abbott had agreed to buy the unit to bolster its flagging prescription drug business by giving it a number of new medicines in late-stages of testing, sources familiar with the deal had earlier told Reuters.
“We are building a new refocused group with the financial means to further accelerate sustainable growth,” Solvay’s board chairman Alois Michielsen said in a statement.
The enterprise value of the deal is 5.2 billion euros, including 4.5 billion in cash, additional potential milestone payments of up to 300 million euros between 2011 and 2013 and liabilities of about 400 million euros.
Solvay said the proceeds from the deal will be reinvested in external and organic growth in strategic projects in chemicals and plastics with a sharp focus on long term value creation.
Studies about such reinvestments are ongoing, it added.
Abbott co-markets with development partner Solvay the cholesterol treatments TriLipix and Tricor. It is also working in the U.S. on a combination cholesterol treatment with AstraZeneca using Trilipix as Solvay pursues the development of a combination treatment for Europe and elsewhere.
The transaction is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2010, pending approval by competition authorities and Solvay said it communicate the impact of the deal on its results when finalised.
($1=.6810 Euro)
(Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block; Editing by Hans Peters)
No Comments
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.