Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has not been afraid to spend its cash.
In its latest deal, the Canadian health care company forked out $2.6 billion late on Monday to buy Medicis Pharmaceutical, a skincare business based in Arizona.
The announcement follows a succession of acquisitions by Valeant since the company merged with rival Biovail of Canada in a $3.2 billion deal in 2010.
The company has picked up assets in emerging economies like Russia and Brazil, as well as specialty pharmaceuticals firms across North America. In total, Valeant already has announced 11 acquisitions so far this year.
The deals include the $180 million deal for Natur Produkt International of Russia, a cough and cold pharmaceuticals provider, and the $64 million deal for a number of assets from University Medical Pharmaceuticals, a skincare company.
The deal for Medicis would help Valeant to expand its presence in in the world of specialty health care. The acqu isition, which is expected to close by June 2013, will strengthen the company's market share in the skincare industry, according to a company statement.
“The acquisition of Medicis represents a significant next step in our journey to become the leader in dermatology,†Valeant's chief executive, J. Michael Pearson, said in a statement.
In trading on the New York Stock Exchange early Tuesday morning, Valeant shares rose more than 13 percent.
Not every proposed deal, however, has been successful for Valeant. Early this year, the Canadian pharmaceuticals company withdrew its $360 million offer for ISTA Pharmaceuticals, while Valeant also failed in its $5.7 billion bid last year for the biotech firm Cephalon.
The global recession has hurt merger activity, but the health care industry has still seen a steady flow of deals, though it is down somewhat from 2011. The total value of deals has reached $111.8 billion so far this year, according to the data pr ovider Thomson Reuters.
The spate of activity comes as health care companies look to take advantage of an aging population that analysts expect will continue to spend money on pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products.
Last month, the health insurance company Aetna announced that it would buy Coventry Health Care for about $5.7 billion in cash and stock. Aetna said the move would help it expand further into government-backed programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
In July, the health insurer WellPoint also agreed to buy Amerigroup for about $4.9 billion in a bid to increase its presence in the markets for the government-backed medical programs.
Many of the acquisitions have come as companies look to take advantage of a slump in targets' share prices in the wake of the economic slowdown.
Following a lengthy stand-off, for example, the British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline agreed in July to buy the biopharmaceutical company Human Genome Sciences for about $3 billion.
Shares in the company had fallen around 75 percent in the 12 months before the proposed deal was first announced.
