Forest Laboratories Inc. FRX +0.50% is in the final stages of negotiations to buy specialty pharmaceutical company Aptalis Holdings Inc. for roughly $3 billion, said people familiar with the matter.
Forest's board was meeting Tuesday night and was expected to approve the deal, one of the people said. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, this person said.
Private-equity firm TPG purchased Aptalis, at the time called Axcan Pharma Inc., in 2008 for about $1.3 billion. Axcan later merged with Eurand NV to create a company that was renamed Aptalis.
Aptalis, which focuses on treatments for cystic fibrosis and gastrointestinal disorders, toward the end of December filed papers with regulators stating intentions to pursue an initial public offering. Private-equity-owned companies often run a so-called dual track process in which they prepare to take a company public while also soliciting an outright buyer.
Aptalis has sales and marketing operations in the U.S., Canada, France and Germany, and manufacturing operations in North America and Europe, according to regulatory filings. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company posted an $86.9 million profit, compared with a $12 million loss a year earlier. Sales rose 12% to $687.9 million.
Forest, a midsize pharmaceutical company based in New York with a market capitalization exceeding $15 billion, develops, makes and sells a bevy of drugs, such as Linzess to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
The company has been looking to find new drugs to replace blockbusters, like the antidepressant Lexapro, that are facing competition from low-price generic versions. Some of the company's new drugs haven't met Wall Street expectations, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last year delayed an approval decision on a schizophrenia treatment Forest is helping develop.
Brent Saunders, the company's new chief executive, has outlined plans to cut $500 million in costs by 2016 while using Forest's cash to buy drugs it can fold into its portfolio. Mr. Saunders has said he wants to complement Linzess with other drugs treating gastrointestinal disorders with deals that boost earnings and cash flow.
Aptalis provides such a fit. It sells gastrointestinal treatments such as ulcer therapy Carafate, and Canasa for a painful condition affecting the rectum called ulcerative proctitis
Forest's board was meeting Tuesday night and was expected to approve the deal, one of the people said. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, this person said.
Private-equity firm TPG purchased Aptalis, at the time called Axcan Pharma Inc., in 2008 for about $1.3 billion. Axcan later merged with Eurand NV to create a company that was renamed Aptalis.
Aptalis, which focuses on treatments for cystic fibrosis and gastrointestinal disorders, toward the end of December filed papers with regulators stating intentions to pursue an initial public offering. Private-equity-owned companies often run a so-called dual track process in which they prepare to take a company public while also soliciting an outright buyer.
Aptalis has sales and marketing operations in the U.S., Canada, France and Germany, and manufacturing operations in North America and Europe, according to regulatory filings. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company posted an $86.9 million profit, compared with a $12 million loss a year earlier. Sales rose 12% to $687.9 million.
Forest, a midsize pharmaceutical company based in New York with a market capitalization exceeding $15 billion, develops, makes and sells a bevy of drugs, such as Linzess to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
The company has been looking to find new drugs to replace blockbusters, like the antidepressant Lexapro, that are facing competition from low-price generic versions. Some of the company's new drugs haven't met Wall Street expectations, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last year delayed an approval decision on a schizophrenia treatment Forest is helping develop.
Brent Saunders, the company's new chief executive, has outlined plans to cut $500 million in costs by 2016 while using Forest's cash to buy drugs it can fold into its portfolio. Mr. Saunders has said he wants to complement Linzess with other drugs treating gastrointestinal disorders with deals that boost earnings and cash flow.
Aptalis provides such a fit. It sells gastrointestinal treatments such as ulcer therapy Carafate, and Canasa for a painful condition affecting the rectum called ulcerative proctitis