Pfizer (PFE) Announces Medivation Acquisition Worth $14 Billion

UPDATE: 6:50 a.m. EDT — Pfizer confirmed Monday morning it had “entered a definitive merger agreement” with Medivation to buy the latter “for $81.50 a share in cash for a total enterprise value of approximately $14 billion,” subject to regulatory approvals.

The transaction is not expected to affect Pfizer’s 2016 financial guidance and “is expected to immediately accelerate revenue growth and drive overall earnings growth potential for Pfizer,” Ian Read, Pfizer's CEO and chairman said, in a statement.

The company plans “to finance the transaction with existing cash.”

Original story:

Less than four months after Medivation Inc. turned down a $9.3 billion takeover offer from French pharmaceutical heavyweight Sanofi SA, the company has reportedly reached an agreement with Pfizer Inc., the world’s second-largest drugmaker, to be bought for about $14 billion. The deal is expected to be announced as soon as Monday.

Many big names in the pharma space have been eyeing the San Francisco biotechnology company for its cancer drugs, particularly for Xtandi, which is used in the treatment for prostate cancer. This drug alone makes the company an attractive acquisition target, since prostate cancer is the second-most common cancer among men and one in every seven men is expected to be diagnosed with it during their lives. Medivation also has two more cancer drugs under development.

Soon after it rejected Sanofi’s unsolicited offer, Medivation began talks with Pfizer and Amgen Inc. in May for a possible acquisition. And according to sources close to the deal, first cited by the Financial Times on Sunday, Pfizer was finalizing an agreement that values Medivation at almost 30 percent premium to its current stock price of $67.16, its closing share price on Nasdaq Friday.

For its part, Pfizer had to give up on its big-ticket proposed Allergan merger in April after running into concerns over the billions in tax avoidance the deal would allow the company. In May, the New York company announced the acquisition of Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for approximately $5.2 billion. Acquiring Medivation will give Pfizer a leg-up in the oncology field, where it has tried to expand its offerings in recent years.

Pfizer is expected to pay for the deal entirely or mostly in cash, unnamed people familiar with the matter said.

Medivation has seen its stock price rise almost 47 percent over the last 12 months, about 40 percent since the beginning of 2016 and close to 15 percent since it turned down the Sanofi bid.