Endo to buy Par Pharmaceutical in deal worth $8 billion

Dublin-based Endo International has agreed to buy Par Pharmaceutical from investment firm TPG Capital in deal valued at $8.05 billion, two months after dropping an effort to purchase Salix Pharmaceuticals following a bidding war.

The US- Irish drugmaker plans to acquire Par with 18 million Endo shares, valued at $1.55 billion, and $6.5 billion in cash, and it will assume Par’s debt, the companies said in a statement.

The takeover will help earnings within the first year of completion, and the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2015.

“This transaction with Par builds upon our generics growth, adding a strong portfolio of high barrier-to-entry and attractive gross margin products,” Endo chief executive Rajiv De Silva said.

Endo withdrew a cash-and-stock offer for Salix in March after Valeant Pharmaceuticals International countered with a sweetened all-cash bid.

That acquisition would have been Dublin-based Endo’s largest by far at more than $11 billion, including debt.