Salix Pharma moves into diabetes with $2.6 billion buy of Santarus

Salix Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SLXP) has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire all the outstanding common stock of fellow USA-based specialty drugmaker Santarus (Nasdaq: SNTS) for $32.00 per share in cash (without interest).

The all-cash transaction values Santarus at around $2.6 billion. The $32.00 per share price represents an around 36% premium over Santarus’ November 6, 2013 closing price of $23.53 per share and an about 39% premium over Santarus’ average closing stock price for the prior 30-trading day period. The proposed transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Salix and Santarus, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. The companies said they expect the deal to be immediately accretive to earnings, with 2014 non-generally-accepted accounting practice (GAAP) profit projected at $5 a share.

The deal was welcomed by the markets, as Salix shares rose as much as 9.4 %to $78 in extended trading after the announcement. Santarus jumped 37% to $31.80 after closing at $23.22, and has more than doubled this year, commented Bloomberg.