Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Andrx Corporation

2007 · Acquisition/Merger · $1.9B · Complete

CALLED IT — OFF BY 5

A messy, FTC-scarred combination that nonetheless yielded one durable long-term winner (Anda) inside an otherwise unremarkable integration.

Full analysis, sources & comparables →

The coverage arc

Mar 13, 2006 Associated Press (via Vail Daily) Neutral

Andrx shares surged 10.65% while Watson shares declined; Standard & Poor's placed Watson's corporate credit rating on negative 'CreditWatch' due to Andrx's FDA…

Oct 31, 2006 Federal Trade Commission Bearish

FTC consent order required divestitures in 13 generic drug markets where Watson and Andrx ANDAs overlapped - a partial drag on the deal's projected synergies.

Nov 06, 2006 BioSpace Neutral

Watson closed Andrx for ~$1.9B, financed via a $650M term loan; the combined entity became the #3 US generics company by prescriptions with $30M targeted…

Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.

All 6 sources with sentiment breakdown →

Watson Pharmaceuticals acquired Andrx Corporation for approximately $1.9B in cash, financed in part through a $650M term loan, consolidating its US generics position and adding Andrx's difficult-to-replicate controlled-release formulations. The combination created the third-largest US generics company by prescriptions. The FTC required divestitures in 13 overlapping generic drug markets as a condition of closing.

Did it work? Outcome assessment

A messy, FTC-scarred combination that nonetheless yielded one durable long-term winner (Anda) inside an otherwise unremarkable integration.

Strategic verdict
Partially Achieved

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Andrx Corporation (this deal)2007$1.9B62
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Actavis plc2012$5.9B97
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Arrow Group2009$1.8B85
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Amarin Development AB (Amarin Corp subsidiary)2003$150M70
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Andrx Corporation2006$1.9B65
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Schein Pharmaceutical Inc.2000$674M65
Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Eden Biodesign Limited2010$15M63

Compare all 7 side-by-side →

See the full interactive analysis, sources & comparables →