Akzo Nobel has canceled plans to take its drug unit Organon public and snatched up a 37 percent premium for the operation in a deal to sell the company to Schering-Plough for $14.4 billion. The deal gives Schering-Plough the world's third-largest maker of birth control pills and an overnight boost of 50 percent to its revenue line. The acquisition also opens up new potential with experimental drugs for women's health and the central nervous system. Analysts quickly heralded the price Akzo snagged as an example of the high valuations that drug developers are fetching these days. The deal values Organon at 13.7 times estimated earnings. The buyout caps a string of new drug purchases by Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan, who has earned widespread kudos in beefing up the company's pipeline and getting it well positioned for future growth. Hassan engineered a company restructuring that included pink slips for 2,000 workers and shuttering some plants.
- check out Schering's press release on the buyout
- read the report on the deal from the International Herald Tribune
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