November 4, 2014
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Allergan Inc. , which has been fighting a takeover from Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. , announced on Monday that another company has approached it with an acquisition proposition. A source who is familiar with the situation claims that the party is Actavis Plc , according to Reuters.
For approximately six months, Allergan has been fighting off an acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals. It has been attempting to convince investors that Valeant’s cost-cutting plan is too extreme. Thus far, Allergan has not identified its suitor, although it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was approached by another party, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Battle Against Valeant
On Oct. 27, Allergan’s board of directors stated once again that it is not interested in the acquisition proposition from Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the board believes that Valeant underestimates and under-values Allergan as a whole.
“We believe Valeant‘s letter today is simply a tactic to distract investors from Allergan‘s outstanding third quarter results,” the board wrote in a statement. “Valeant‘s letter does not indicate an increased exchange offer price nor does it disclose the mix of consideration -- instead, Valeant goes to great lengths to defend its own stock price and to disparage Allergan, including making what we believe to be disparaging remarks about Allergan and its stock price.”
Allergan has more than 60 years of experience in the healthcare field and a presence in 100 countries around the world.
Third Quarter Earnings
For the third quarter that ended on Sept. 30 for Allergan, the company reported a 17 percent increase in total product net sales. Total core medical devices net sales increased 30 percent, while total specialty pharmaceuticals net sales leaped 14 percent.
“With continuing strong momentum across a broad range of products, Allergan again recorded the strongest increase in absolute dollar sales in any quarter in our history, and again delivered sales and earnings per share growth above the high end of our expectations,” said David Pyott, Allergan‘s chairman of the board and chief executive officer. “Furthermore, we are making excellent progress on the stockholder value enhancements announced in July 2014, which are resulting in enhanced non-GAAP diluted earnings per share growth and thus increased stockholder value.”
The rise in profit is also giving Allergan more compelling data to use against Valeant as it continues to pursue the company.
