Allergan Company

Background information of company

The recent M&A that this report is focusing on is Allergan Private Limited Company. It is an international pharmaceutical company which was acquired by Actavis.

Summary of the M&A

The table below (Table 1) gives a complete view of the firms involved in the acquisition, the core business of it and the amount each acquisition cost.

History of Actavis PLC

● Actavis PLC, previously known as Watson Pharmaceuticals, was first founded in the US by Allen Chao and David Hsiao in March 1984. They became the world 's third-largest generics prescription drug manufacturer during that time. Table 2 of the appendix shows the timeline of how Actavis started, their merger and their current state being Allergan PLC. After

Herbert together with chemist Stanley Bly, they created the company’s first drug, an anti-allergy nose drop. As such, they focused on eye products before becoming public in 1970. After getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they first used Botox to treat excessive blinking or crossed eyes. Allergan briefly merged with drug company Smith Kline Beckham, but their venture did not work out, thus the 2 companies split up and became individual entities of their own. In the 1990s, upon further testing, they realized that Botox can be used to treat spasms or used for cosmetic purposes. By 2013, Botox became their core product and it reached nearly $2 billion in sales which is about a third of Allergan’s

Another pharmaceutical company wanted a hostile takeover of Allergan. They made a bid of about USD $50 billion for Allergan on April 21st, 2014. Their reason was that they wanted to focus on cost synergies. They planned a merger that was not beneficial for the shareholders and stressed on some important management decisions for it to be taken out. For example, they would discontinue some of Allergan’s earlier stage programs and spend on research on the new company largely for their own benefit. Allergan declined the bid offered as they felt that their company could be valued more and also felt that the merger was not in the best interests of the company and stockholders. They also showed proof that they were better off being an independent company. However, Valeant did not relent and they raised their bid to USD $53 billion for Allergan. This saga went on for another few months until Actavis became the white knight for