GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to buy US cancer specialist Tesaro for $5.1 billion, marking a major biotech investment by Chief Executive Emma Walmsley as she seeks to rebuild the group’s pharmaceuticals business.
GSK has lagged rivals in recent years in producing multibillion-dollar blockbusters and it largely sat out a spate of deal-making by rival drugmakers under previous CEO Andrew Witty. That is a situation Walmsley now wants to change. Britain’s biggest drugmaker is paying $75 a share for the business, an 110 per cent premium to the 30-day average price. It is also taking on Tesaro’s debt.
Boston-based Tesaro has long been seen as a potential takeover target, with other suggested acquirers in the past including Switzerland’s Roche.
The definitive agreement to acquire Tesaro comes on the same day as GSK sold its India-focussed Horlicks nutrition business to Unilever, freeing up cash for pharmaceuticals investment.