In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s (NYSE: BMS) bid to morph from a traditional drugmaker into a focused biopharma,
the firm sold over-the-counter assets in Asia-Pacific (excluding China and Japan) to Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for $160 million. Bristol also sold its 97.8% stake in PT Bristol-Myers Squibb Indonesia Tbk to Taisho for $150 million.
This is the seventh deal Bristol has made during its transition. Major deals included its spinoff of Mead-Johnson Nutrition Co.(NYSE:MJN) in an IPO; the $4.1 billion sale of its ConvaTec wound care unit to Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners; and its recently
completed a deal to buy Medarex Inc. for $2.4 billion, extending a string of recent deals in the oncology sector.
Last year, for $250 million, Bristol sold its Bufferin and Excedrin brands in Japan, Asia (excluding China and Taiwan) and certain Oceanic countries to Japan's Lion Corp. In July, GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) bought Bristol's branded generics drugs business in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Libya and Yemen. That followed the previous year's deal where Glaxo bought BMS' Egyptian mature products business for $210 million.
Bristol shifted its strategy amid a broader industry consolidation. It was seen as a prime target, but Glaxo, Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) and Sanofi-Aventis SA (NYSE:SNY) ruled out big buys. -
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