In June, AbbVie announced plans to acquire Allergan for $63 billion, and in November, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $74 billion takeover of Celgene got final approval from the Federal Trade Commission.
Large deals like these are risky because the acquiring company needs to issue large amounts of debt and equity for uncertain payoff, according to the Journal.
Celgene and Allergan both faced investor concerns about patent expirations on their top-selling drugs.
But Bristol-Myers CEO Giovanni Caforio, told the Journal: “I feel better today than I felt even the day we closed.”
Bristol-Myers shares rose more than 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
“Every single decision, commercially and in the pipeline, looks like it broke in Celgene’s favor,” Ronny Gal, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, told the Journal.
AbbVie said it expects sales and adjusted profit growth of about 8 percent each for 2020, the Journal reported.
Read the full article here.
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