Actavis Marches Ahead with Acquisition Spree

Actavis’s agreed purchase of Allergan for around $66 billion will help grow the Dublin-based specialty pharma firm to a $22 billion healthcare company in 2015 - a “dramatic elevation”, given the $8.7 billion revenues it recorded in 2013, reports research and consulting firm GlobalData.

After acquiring Warner Chilcott for $5 billion last year, and with the acquisition of New York-based Forest Laboratories  already one of this year’s largest deals, the Allergan purchase “further cement[s] Actavis’ unwavering growth plans,” says Joshua Owide, GlobalData’s Director of Healthcare Industry Dynamics. The total outlay for the three deals comes in at just under $100 billion, “an incredible level of investment undoubtedly triggered by the financial cushion afforded by Actavis’ inversion maneuver to Ireland…”

Owide adds that the Allergan deal “represents a huge premium, heavily dependent on financial engineering”. But synergies within research and development and selling, and general and administrative expenses, could deliver an extra $17 billion in additional cash flows”.