Salix to Merge With Cosmo in Latest Tax Inversion Deal

Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. agreed to buy patents to three gastrointestinal drugs from Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SpA for about $2.7 billion in stock, allowing the U.S. company to move to Ireland and lower its tax bill.

Salix, of Raleigh, North Carolina, will merge with an Irish unit of Lainate, Italy-based Cosmo, the companies said yesterday in a statement. Salix shareholders will own just less than 80 percent of the combined company, which will be renamed Salix Pharmaceuticals Plc, and Cosmo will own the rest.