Spain's Grifols to pay $3.4 billion for Talecris Bio to create a world leader in plasma protein therapies

Spanish health care company Grifols says it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire USA-based Talecris Biotherapeutics for around $3.4 billion in a combination of cash and newly-issued Grifols non-voting shares in order to create what it says will be 'a global leader of life-saving and life enhancing plasma protein therapeutics.'

Talecris was the subject of a $3.1 billion takeover from Australia's CSL in 2008, which was abandoned a year later because the US Federal Trade Commission blocked the deal on anti-trust concerns (The Pharma Letter June 9, 2009). The proposed deal with Grifols is less likely to attract anti-trust scrutiny as the two companies have little overlap in their respective markets, observers note. Talecris' leading products are Gamunex (immune globulin) and Prolastin (alpha-1 proteinase inhibitor human).

Financial details and operating synergies