Ortenca Aliaj Author Rss

Sebastien de La Riviere’s move is latest in a number of high-profile departures inside activist’s London office

Ortenca Aliaj — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 14:44:44 +0000

The Elliott Management investor behind activist campaigns at UK healthcare giant GSK and Germany’s Fresenius has left the £55.7bn hedge fund, adding to an exodus of senior figures in its London office.

Sebastien de La Riviere, who had worked in Elliott’s London office since 2008, left in recent weeks and his positions in GSK and Fresenius, the world’s largest dialysis company, have been reallocated to other portfolio managers inside the firm, said people familiar with the matter.

It is the latest high-profile departure inside Elliott’s London office, where several key figures left the firm last year. Among them was senior portfolio manager Mark Levine, a longstanding and close ally of Gordon Singer, the son of Elliott’s founder Paul Singer who leads the London office.

The hedge fund also urged the GSK board to evaluate takeover offers for the joint venture with Pfizer that was later spun-off as Haleon. GSK later rejected a £50bn bid from Unilever to acquire the unit and there were no other offers.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Ortenca Aliaj

Drugmakers seek to replenish pharmaceuticals pipelines amid broader slowdown in transactions

Ortenca Aliaj — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 17:04:50 +0000

Amgen is close to a deal to acquire Horizon Therapeutics in a transaction worth as much as $20bn, according to sources familiar with the matter, as a sell-off in healthcare stocks creates attractive targets.

A deal between the California-based biotech and Horizon, which is headquartered in Ireland, would mark the largest pharmaceutical transaction since AstraZeneca bought Alexion for $39bn last year.

The takeover would give Amgen access to Horizon’s pipeline of drugs for rare autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including its blockbuster treatment Tepezza.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Ortenca Aliaj

Acquisition set to deliver multibillion profit for private equity investor Warburg Pincus

Ortenca Aliaj — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 13:06:13 +0000

VillageMD, an affiliate of Walgreens Boots Alliance, has agreed to acquire physicians’ group and urgent care provider Summit Health in a deal valued at almost $9bn, adding to a wave of consolidation in the US healthcare sector.

The transaction, which includes debt, will combine VillageMD with the operator of CityMD, whose urgent care centres are located throughout the north-east US. The entity will have more than 680 provider locations, the two companies said.

Walgreens has agreed to invest $3.5bn as part of the transaction through a mix of debt and equity, and will remain VillageMD’s largest shareholder with a 53 per cent stake in the business. Evernorth, a subsidiary of health insurance company Cigna, has invested an undisclosed amount and will be a minority owner in VillageMD.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Ortenca Aliaj

Amazon was among bidders for Texas-based company as operators in sector seek to diversify

Ortenca Aliaj — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 18:12:05 +0000

CVS Health has agreed to buy home healthcare provider Signify Health for about $8bn, beating Amazon in a hotly contested takeover battle and opening a front in the pharmacy chain’s effort to become a diversified healthcare juggernaut.

Signify shareholders will receive $30.50 per share in cash, a 6 per cent premium to the company’s share price as of Friday’s close.

The Dallas, Texas-based company boasts a network of 10,000 clinicians across the US who provide in-home health assessments to a wide range of patients, including those covered by the government-funded Medicare programme.

Analysts said the push for diversified healthcare companies reflected incumbents’ need to curb cost inflation as well as defend against potential disrupters. Amazon had also been among the bidders for Signify, the Financial Times and other outlets have previously reported.

The CVS deal represents a turnround in the fortunes of Signify shareholders. The company’s shares commanded $24 in an initial public offering last year but changed hands for less than $13 at the beginning of this year and remained below the IPO price until news of a potential deal was reported last month.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Ortenca Aliaj