| Roche to buy InterMune for $8.3 billion | By Jonathan D. Rockoff and Hester Plumridge
LONDON -- Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) said Sunday it would pay $8.3 billion for a California biotech firm that has yet to turn a profit on a new drug to treat a deadly lung disease -- the latest gamble by a pharmaceutical giant to buy its way into a lucrative corner of the industry.
The takeover would allow the Swiss company to expand its presence in the treatment of respiratory disorders, one of the world's biggest drug markets. Roche's offer of $74 a share represents a 38% premium over InterMune's (ITMN) closing share price on Friday of $53.80, and a 63% premium before takeover speculation surrounding the biotech started circulating this month.
2014 has been one of the busiest years for pharmaceutical deal makers. Companies notched $87 billion in deals through June, more than all of last year and on pace to exceed the peak in recent years of $152 billion in 2009, according to EvaluatePharma.
Roche remained one of the M&A holdouts during the latest frenzy. Its last big deal was in 2009, when it paid $46.8 billion for the stake in biotech Genentech that it didn't already own. In 2012, Roche gave up a chance to buy gene-sequencing firm Illumina Inc. (ILMN) rather than boost its $6.7 billion offer.
In InterMune, Roche found a suitable target. The biotech had attracted widespread industry interest, according to people familiar with the matter, because it has a drug, Esbriet, already approved in Europe and Canada.
Esbriet aims to treat a lung-scarring condition called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which currently lacks an approved therapy in the U.S. Pharmaceutical executives look for such opportunities because companies can charge high prices for new drugs involving poorly treated diseases.
(An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ:com: online.wsj.com
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