Deals
These Drugmakers May Be Next to Make an M&A Splash in 2019
- Bristol-Myers’s purchase of Celgene may spark more dealmaking
- Biotech analysts and investors see more affordable valuations
Photographer: Ariana Lindquist/Bloomberg
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Biotechnology investors who eagerly waited for a much-hyped takeover boom in 2018 just got their gift of the new year -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreeing to buy Celgene Corp. for $74 billion in cash and stock.
As health care-focused investors hunt for innovative and fairly valued stocks, heavyweights from Bristol-Myers to AbbVie Inc. have been under pressure to make a deal. After a sector-wide slide punished high-flying small- and mid-cap stocks, the difference between bid and ask prices may be narrower than in the last few years, specialists say.