Innovation
"Irish" drugs firm Actavis in talks on $25bn takeover of Forest Laboratories
By Finfacts Team
Feb 18, 2014 - 7:34 AM

Actavis plc, which is technically an Irish company following the transfer of its headquarters to Dublin in 2013 for tax purposes, is in advanced talks to acquire rival drug maker Forest Laboratories Inc in a deal that could value Forest at up to $25bn, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal says the deal is expected to be announced as early as Tuesday, its contacts said. However, it also said that it's possible the talks could still fall apart.

The newspaper says the proposed combination of the "Irish"-based Actavis and Forest, of New York, is partly designed to position the resulting company to deal with the changing health-care landscape in the US Hospitals, insurers and doctors in the country are combining to make larger organizations that can negotiate directly to buy prescription drugs.

A combined Actavis-Forest could offer a range of generic and brand-name medicines, reaping economies of scale of its own.

Forest had a market capitalization of $19.3bn as of Friday's close, compared with $33.4bn for Actavis.

Actavis is known for its generic drugs, but last year it bought Warner Chilcott, an Irish provider of branded treatments for gastrointestinal and urological conditions.

Actavis plc is listed on the New Stock Exchange, and it says while its global headquarters is located in Dublin, Ireland, its administrative headquarters is based in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA.

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