South Africa's Aspen confirmed as buyer of Sigma Pharma, with a $1.24 billion offer

24 May 2010

Shortly after troubled Australian drugmaker Sigma Pharmaceuticals revealed that it had received an unsolicited takeover offer last Friday (The Pharma Letter May 21), South Africa's Aspen PharmaCare announced that it was the mystery bidder.

The company advised its shareholders that Aspen, South Africa's largest drugmaker, has submitted an indicative non-binding proposal to acquire, either directly or through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Sigma at an enterprise value of A$1.49 billion ($1.24 billion), or A%0.60 per Sigma share based on 1,178.6 million Sigma shares outstanding and net debt (including off-balance sheet facilities) of A$785 million (as reported at 31 January 2010 (together, 'the Proposal').

Sigma's shares leapt an immediate 47% but settled 37% higher at A$0.48 on the news, giving it a market value of A$566 million, while Aspen edged 0.5% higher to 76.19 rand at 12:54 pm in Johannesburg on Friday, equal to a capitalization of 32.8 billion rand ($4.1 billion).

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