Life sciences M&A activity heats Up in April, says Burrill & Co

April proved to be a big month for M&A activity in the life sciences as companies announced more than $29 billion in agreed upon transactions during the month, the bulk of which occurred during the final week, notes Burrill & Co, a US diversified global financial services firm focused on the life sciences industry. The increased activity stood in stark contrast to the initial public offering (IPO) market, which saw no completed life sciences offerings in US markets during the month.

Nestle's $11.6 billion agreement to acquire Pfizer's nutrition business was the largest transaction of the month. The Swiss food company fended off rivals Danone and Mead Johnson by pushing the price higher than analyst's estimates of $9 billion to $10 billion. The deal represents the largest acquisition ever for Nestle, expanding its presence in emerging markets where 85% of Pfizer Nutrition's sales come from.

April also saw Watson Pharmaceutical's $5.6 billion agreement to buy the privately-held generics powerhouse Actavis Group. Actavis had about $2.5 billion in sales with more than 1,000 products in more than 40 countries. Other transactions in April include Hologic's $3.7 billion agreement to buy the diagnostics company Gen-Probe, AstraZeneca's $1.3 billion agreement to buy Ardea Biosciences, Takeda Pharmaceutical's $800 million agreement to acquire URL Pharma, and Amgen's $700 million deal to acquire Turkish company Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals, a maker of injectable generic drugs, as the biotech giant continues its push into emerging markets. [Details of all the deals were reported by The Pharma Letter and are available in its archive.]