Valeant Pharmaceuticals to buy generic/OTC drugmaker PharmaSwiss for $480 million

Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE: VRX; TSX: VRX) has signed a binding agreement to acquire PharmaSwiss, a privately-owned branded generics and over-the-counter (OTC) drugmaker based in Zug, Switzerland for 350 million euros ($480.6 million).

On closing, PharmaSwiss is expected to have approximately 38 million euros cash on hand and no debt. Up to an additional 30 million euros may be payable to certain stockholders of PharmaSwiss based upon achievement of certain milestones.

PharmaSwiss has a broad product portfolio in seven therapeutic areas and operations in 19 countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Serbia. The company also has operations in Greece and Israel. In addition, PharmaSwiss is an existing partner to several large pharmaceutical and biotech companies offering regional expertise in such functions as regulatory, compliance, sales, marketing and distribution. PharmaSwiss had annual revenues of approximately 180 million euros in 2010 and has been growing at around 20% per year over the past 5 years.