Horizon Therapeutics Plc (NASDAQ: HZNP) is up nearly 15% on Monday after Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) revealed plans of buying the biopharmaceutical company for $27.8 billion.
What it means for Horizon shareholders
It’s an all-cash deal that values each share of the Illinois-headquartered firm at $116.50 – about a 20% premium on its previous close.
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Amgen expects this acquisition to be accretive to its per-share earnings from about a year after its expected close in the first half of 2023. Reacting to the news, though, Jim Cramer said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”:
I find some of these deals to be done because these companies want to put together a giant franchise. But Amgen’s tapped out. That’s what the deal says to me. I didn’t think Amgen was tapped out until I saw the deal.
The agreement is subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Jim Cramer’s take on Amgen Inc
The merger is also expected to be generating at least $500 million of annual pre-tax savings by 2026.
Nonetheless, Amgen stock is trading down on today’s announcement. Sharing his outlook on the multinational pharmaceutical giant, the Mad Money host added:
I don’t want to say Amgen is a second-rate company because that would be too harsh. [But] I always expect better from Amgen. I think Amgen has great science but they don’t seem to make it across the finish line.
Jim Cramer picks Johnson & Johnson over Amgen Inc in this space even though the latter is currently more lucrative as a dividend stock.
Source: https://invezz.com/news/2022/12/12/amgen-to-buy-horizon-therapeutics/