Abbott Labs completes its $6.2 billion acquisition of Solvay Pharma

US health care giant Abbott Laboratories has finally completed its 4.5 billion-euro ($6.2 billion) acquisition of Belgium-based Solvay Pharmaceuticals - announced last September, providing the US firm with a large and complementary portfolio of pharmaceutical products and expanding its presence in key global emerging markets.

The deal had been held back by regulatory decisions, but final approval of the buy from the European Commission was given last week, tough conditional on the divestiture of the cystic fibrosis testing business of Solvay Pharma's subsidiary Innogenetics in the European Economic Area (The Pharma Letter February 12).

Based on the timing of the close, Abbott expects the acquisition to add around $2.9 billion to Abbott's 2010 total reported sales, the majority outside the USA, and add about $500 million to its annual pharmaceutical R&D investment.