Actelion shareholders approve J&J takeover and Idorsia spin out

At Wednesday's Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Swiss biotech firm Actelion (SIX: ATLN), shareholders voted in favor of all proposals by the board of directors with a significant majority.

Notably, they backed the $ 30 billion acquisition of the company by US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), which is on track to complete in the second quarter 2017. Also, shareholders approved the demerger of Actelion's drug discovery and early clinical pipeline to form new company Idorsia, which was agreed with J&J as part of the transaction.

Actelion chairman Jean-Pierre Garnier commented: "After a very successful two decades, resulting in an unprecedented share price increase of more than 2,000% since our IPO, the next chapter for Actelion awaits. With the successful tender offer by Johnson & Johnson, regulatory approvals on track, and today's approval by the shareholders to spin-out Idorsia, the transaction is moving ahead at full steam. I am confident that under Johnson & Johnson's leadership, Actelion will continue to grow and prosper. At the same time, I am excited about the creation of Idorsia, and look forward to publishing results of the innovative pipeline in the coming months."