Alpharma Deal Win/Win For King

Activity in the pharmaceutical industry continued on November 26, when US major Alpharma confirmed that it would accept an increased US$1.6bn offer by King Pharmaceuticals, in a deal that will see King significantly increase its pain drug business in the US. Alpharma's board accepted offer at US$37 a share, which represents a premium of 10.4% over the closing price on November 21 2008. CFW had earlier predicted, after Alpharma rebuffed an original US$1.4bn offer by King in September, that a new US$1.6bn offer was both likely and that it would stand every chance of success, given the scale of the operational efficiencies that would be realised by such a deal.

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