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PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. has finalized its $5.6 billion acquisition of Actavis Group.
Watson said Wednesday that the completion of the deal, announced in late April, creates the world’s third-largest generic drug company, with with presence in over 60 countries and expected pro forma combined 2012 revenue of more than $8 billion.
"Today, we unite two powerful, profitable and rapidly growing companies into one exceptional global business," stated Paul Bisaro, president and chief executive officer of Watson.
"With the acquisition complete, we now have the generic assets in place that will power our continued organic growth, and generate strong cash flow to support the rapid paydown of debt, which will allow us to continue to focus on future investments to enhance all of our businesses, particularly our Global Brands and Biosimilars businesses," Bisaro added.
Also on Wednesday, Watson said it will adopt Actavis as its new global name starting in 2013. The company plans to launch a multiyear rebranding campaign for its facilities, operations and commercial presence and will switch to trading under a new symbol on the New York Stock Exchange next year.
"When we announced the proposed acquisition of Actavis in April 2012, we immediately instituted an extensive and accelerated review of our global brand position and naming equities," Bisaro explained, noting that the Watson corporate name was never registered globally.
"As this process progressed, it became clear that one of the many assets within the Actavis acquisition was a single name, trademarked and protected around the world," he stated. "Adopting the Actavis name on a global basis, for our generics, brands and biosimilars businesses, was a logical and cost-effective solution."
Watson has also implemented a distinctive redesign of the Actavis name, which reflects the history of both Watson and Actavis. The new icon in the logo reveals a "W" shape emerging from a shaded "A," a historical reference to the Watson heritage and acquisition of Actavis.
Until next year’s rollout of the new corporate identity, Watson will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under its current symbol, WPI.
Watson, too, has announced its global generics management team. Siggi Olafsson will lead the unit as president of Global Generics. Watson’s U.S. generics business will be led by Andrew Boyer, while the company’s Canada and Latin America business will be overseen by Jean-Guy Goulet. Leaders of Watson’s other global generics units include Lars Ramneborn for Europe, Hordur Thorhallsson for Asia and Middle East and Africa, and Karen McTavish for Australia.
On Monday, Watson also announced that it has sold its Rugby over-the-counter pharmaceutical products and trademarks to Harvard Drug Group, a distributor of generics and private-label OTCs, for $117 million. The Rugby OTC portfolio includes more than 250 SKUs of cough and cold, allergy, pain relief, nausea relief, nicotine gum, vitamin and nutritional supplement products, which are sold through various health care outlets across the United States.
