As Forbes reported today in the article Dainippon completes tender offer for Sepracor, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. of Japan agreed to buy Sepracor, based in Marlborough, Mass., for about $2.6 billion, or $23 per Sepracor share. Sepracor makes drugs for respiratory and nervous system disorders. It reported $1.29 billion in revenue in 2008, with almost half of that total coming from sales of its sleep aid Lunesta.
The Dainippon/Sepracor deal is the latest example of the resurgence of tender offers as a vehicle for growth. An insightful article entitled The Peculiarities of Tender Offers appears in today’s New York Times’ DealBook section. According to the article, 26.15 percent of acquisitions so far this year were structured as tender offers, compared with 16.28 percent in 2007 and 23.34 percent in 2008.