Grifols buys Talecris for £2bn to boost presence in America
SPANISH healthcare company Grifols said yesterday it has acquired US firm Talecris Biotherapeutics in a $3.4bn (£2.3bn) deal, one of the largest pharmaceutical takeovers this year.
The cash and shares deal will expand Grifols’ market share in the USA and Canada, helping it compete with healthcare rivals Baxter International and CSL. The combined company expects to generate around $2.8bn in yearly revenues, with around $230m of annual synergies from the deal.
Talecris, which makes plasma-based medical products, saw its share price rise 25 per cent yesterday following the announcement.
Victor Grifols, chairman and chief executive, said he did not predict the same anti-trust problems that caused the US Federal Trades Commission to block a takeover of Talecris by rivals CSL last year.
“Grifols is much smaller than CSL in the United States,” he said. The companies issued a joint statement predicting the deal will create “a global leader of life-saving and life enhancing plasma protein therapeutics”.
Cerberus Capital Management, the US owner of 49 per cent of Talecris shares, said it backed deal.