GSK and Stiefel Labs: Top 10 deals of 2009

Who: GlaxoSmithKline
With: Stiefel Laboratories
What: $3.6 billion buyout

Summary: It was rumored in March that privately-held Stiefel Laboratories, which specializes in dermatological products, was putting itself on the market. A month later, GSK gobbled up the company for $3.6 billion.

CEO Andrew Witty said the buyout was part of GSK's plan to grow and diversify. The drugmaker has combined its existing prescription dermatological products with Stiefel's business, giving it 8 percent of the global market for prescription skin drugs. GSK also gained Stiefel's pipeline of more than 15 candidates in late-stage trials. Former Stiefel CEO and Chairman Charles Stiefel (whose family owned the company for over 160 years) stayed on as the new unit's business's chief.