Tokyo drugmaker buying OSI of Melville for $4B
OSI Pharmaceuticals, which is leaving Melville for upstate Ardsley, joined Astellas Pharma of Tokyo in announcing Monday, May 17, 2010, that it will be purchased by Astellas for $4 billion. (July 2009) Credit: Charles Eckert File
The Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc. will buy OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Melville for $4 billion, the companies said Monday.
OSI's executive leadership and its board, which had resisted the takeover in recent months, joined Monday in the announcement.
OSI, a biotechnology company primarily focused on cancer treatment, had been in the process of moving from Long Island to Westchester County before the takeover bid was launched in February. Its leading drug is Tarceva.
Astellas said in a news release that, under the terms of the merger agreement, it will increase its offer price to $57.50 per share, which represents a premium of 55 percent to the closing price for OSI's shares of $37.02 on Feb. 26, 2010, the last trading day before the announcement by Astellas of its offer.
The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the all-cash transaction valued at $4 billion, the news release said.
In a statement, Colin Goddard, chief executive of OSI, said, "We believe today's announcement recognizes the significant value we have built for our stockholders while providing the merged companies the opportunity to forge a stronger collective path forward in a shared mission to provide innovative new medicines to patients around the world."
The deal is the second-largest U.S. acquisition by a Japanese drugmaker, and adding OSI's cancer treatments, including Tarceva, will help buffer the impact of competition from cheaper generic medicines that Astellas said last week will cause its profit to slide for a third straight year.
OSI shares closed down $2.45, or 4.1 percent, to $57.35 in Nasdaq composite trading. Astellas slid 0.3 percent to close at a five-month low of 3,135 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Tarceva, OSI's biggest drug, is a treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and pancreatic tumors. The company projected this year that Tarceva will have $7 billion in revenue through 2020.
- With Bloomberg News
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
