The wave of deal making in the drug industry continued on Monday when Forest Laboratories Inc. agreed to buy Furiex Pharmaceuticals Inc. for up to $1.46 billion.
Forest Laboratories itself is already the target of a $25 billion takeover by Actavis P.L.C. Forest Labs said in a statement on Monday that Actavis consented to the transaction and that it did not expect the deal for Furiex to alter the timing of the Actavis deal.
The deal for Furiex, which is a drug development collaboration company, expands Forest Laboratories’ offerings in gastroenterology. Forest Laboratories agreed to pay $95 a share, or about $1.1 billion in cash, which translates into a 19 percent premium to Furiex’s stock price on Friday. The company is also offering up to $30 a share, or $360 million, in contingent value rights tied to Furiex’s lead product, eluxadoline, a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome that still requires regulatory approval.
“The acquisition of Furiex builds on our growing position in gastroenterology and helps to create a leading G.I. company within Forest,†Brent Saunders, the chief executive of Forest Laboratories, said in the statement. “It is a natural extension of our G.I. business following our $2.9 billion acquisition of Aptalis earlier this year.â€
Separately, Forest said it had agreed to sell Furiex’s royalties on two drugs, alogliptin and Priligy, to Royalty Pharma for about $415 million. Forest Laboratories estimated the deal would effectively reduce Forest’s purchase price by about $315 million.
Covington & Burling acted as legal counsel for Forest Laboratories. Furiex was advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse acted as financial advisers to Furiex.
