Jazz Pharmaceuticals Adds a Pain Medicine in Azur Takeover
Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. (JAZZ), maker of the narcolepsy drug Xyrem, said it would take over Dublin-based Azur Pharma Ltd., in a deal to add a pain drug and diversify its product portfolio.
The all-stock transaction will give Jazz shareholders just less than 80 percent of the newly combined company, to be called Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc, the companies said today in a statement. The merged company will be based in Ireland, with operations in Palo Alto, California, where Jazz was based, and Philadelphia, where closely held Azur had its U.S. operations.
The deal “helps pave the way for sustained long-term growth,” Bruce Cozadd, chief executive of Jazz, said on a conference call. “It strengthens our commercial business.”
Jazz has been talking about a strategic transaction for some time, said Cozadd, who will be chief executive of the new company. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2012, would give Jazz Azur’s 10 drugs sold in the U.S. including Prialt for severe chronic pain, schizophrenia, and women’s health disorders.
Jazz declined $2.14, or 4.9 percent, to $41.60 at 6:32 p.m. New York time in extended trading after gaining 85 cents to $43.74 at the 4 p.m. close of Nasdaq Stock Market trading before the announcement. The new company will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq.
Jazz had 2010 revenue of $173.8 million with 82 percent coming from sales of Xyrem. Net sales this year of Azur’s products are expected to be $95 million to $100 million, the companies said in the statement.
The combined company is expected to have sales of more than $475 million in the first 12 months following the closing of the deal, the companies said in the statement.
Azur shareholders would own about 12 million shares, or 20 percent of the combined company, worth about $525 million based on Jazz’s closing price today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Langreth in New York at rlangreth@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.
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