Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has agreed to acquire Inhibitex Inc for approximately $2.5 billion to gain access to its promising hepatitis C treatment, the companies said on Saturday.
The deal at $26 per share is a huge 163 percent premium to Inhibitex’s closing price of $9.87 on Friday.
The Bristol-Inhibitex deal comes on the heels of $11 billion acquisition by Gilead Sciences Inc of Pharmasset Inc that has its own promising hepatitis C therapies.
According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, analysts on average expect Bristol to earn $2.01 per share in both 2012 and 2013. Bristol believes the transaction to hurt earnings through 2016, which includes an expected hit to earnings per share of about 4 cents in 2012 and 5 cents in 2013.
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