AstraZeneca and Pfizer have provided an extra helping of acquisition drama, but the lull following the dissolution of their merger deal does not mean things are quiet: tensions between Allergan and pursuer Valeant continue. The Wall Street Journal reports that Valeant has increased its unsolicited bid by $10 a share, for a total of around $49.4 billion. The company also managed to hand off North American rights to skin care products over to Nestle, which licensed fillers Restylane, Perlane and Emervel, among others. The WSJ notes that this sale could help Valeant “smooth the antitrust review process if its unsolicited takeover bid is successful.”
Allergan, however, is resisting. The company argued in a May 27 presentation that a Valeant takeover would be a bad deal for Allergan shareholders, for reasons including “limited experience with large, global scale products,” which could hurt growth of Allergan’s existing products and new products. Allergan also asserted in its presentation that Medicis wilted soon after being taken over by Valeant and that recent Bausch & Lomb growth is “attributable to what we believe are unsustainable price increases.”
