BRIEF—Sanofi no longer interested in buying Horizon Therapeutics

Late November, the news emerged that three companies were in talks to potentially acquire Ireland-headquartered Horizon Therapeutics.

Among these was French pharma major Sanofi, which confirmed that, among a wide variety of business development opportunities and this has included the evaluation of a possible transaction involving Horizon.

Yesterday, however, Sanofi said that, “as transaction price expectations do not meet our value creation criteria, Sanofi announces it is no longer in discussions with Horizon and it does not intend to make an offer for Horizon.”

This announcement is intended to be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Takeover Rules applies.

The other companies were US biotech major Amgen and healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson’s unit Janssen, but J&J has since said it too does not intend to pursue the acquisition.

Meantime, according to the Financial Times, quoting sources familiar with the matter, Amgen is close to a deal to buy Horizon Therapeutics in a transaction worth as much as $20 billion.