TRENTON, N.J. — Shares of Ireland’s Warner Chilcott PLC soared Monday on news of its bid to morph from a small, specialty pharmaceutical company to a global player by buying Procter & Gamble Co.’s prescription-drug business for $3.1 billion.
The maker of women’s health and dermatology products will get a portfolio with $2.3 billion in annual sales, including blockbuster osteoporosis drug Actonel, and will triple its revenue in a rare deal financed entirely by bank debt.
Overnight, Warner Chilcott will greatly expand its women’s health products, gain a toehold in the urology and gastroenterology markets and expand into 14 countries.
“It gives them immediate scale. It gives them an R&D franchise too,” said analyst Les Funtleyder of Miller Tabak & Co.
The deal brings Warner Chilcott an unspecified number of Procter & Gamble’s prescription drugs in development, manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico and Germany, a trained sales force of roughly 1,200 and a research-and-development team nearly as big.
“Our acquisition of the Procter & Gamble pharmaceutical business is a transformational event for Warner Chilcott,” said Roger Boissonneault, president and chief executive.
Warner Chilcott shares rose $4.35, or 27 percent, to close at $20.41 Monday, while Procter & Gamble shares fell 24 cents to $53.34.
