Bristol-Myers Squibb buying Celgene in $74B deal
U.S. cancer drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb said Thursday it is buying biotech company Celgene, which develops treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases, in a deal with an enterprise value of $74 billion.
The cash-and-stock deal will create a “focused specialty biopharma company well positioned to address the needs of patients with cancer, inflammatory and immunologic disease and cardiovascular disease,” Bristol-Myers said in a statement.
Shares of the New York-based company plunged more than 10 percent in premarket action, while shares of New Jersey-based Celgene surged more than 30 percent.
The combined company will have nine products with annual sales of more than $1 billion.
Bristol-Myers Squibb expects to execute an accelerated share repurchase program of up to approximately $5 billion once the deal closes.
Dr. Giovanni Caforio, CEO and chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb, will retain those two positions once the two companies are combined. Two Celgene board members will be added to the Bristol-Myers Squibb board.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMY | BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO. | 59.94 | +0.72 | +1.22% |
| CELG | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
Bristol-Myers Squibb on Thursday also declared a 41 cents per share quarterly dividend, up from its prior dividend of 40 cents per share, and it issued 2019 GAAP earning- per-share (EPS) guidance range at $3.75 to $3.85 and non-GAAP EPS guidance range at $4.10 to $4.20.
Celegen has approximately 7,500 employees, and Bristol-Myers has more than 23,000 employees.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.