Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd. received a non-binding offer from Chilean drug manufacturer CFR Pharmaceuticals SA. Adcock, South Africa's biggest provider of hospital products was worth ZAR12.8 billion equivalent to US$1.3 billion.
The possible bid price from CFR was ZAR73.51. This was 14% higher than Adcock's concluding price of ZAR64.50 yesterday. The Johannesburg-based supplier said that CFR would pay in cash and stock.
"This offer has a compelling rationale from an emerging market point of view," an independent administrator at Adcock, Andrew Thompson, stated in a phone interview. "There is no other South African company that could have offered this combination."
The merger with CFR would enable the company to earn around US$1.3 billion yearly. It would acquire an asset base of roughly US$2.1 billion, Adcock added. It would also allow Adcock to be in more than 23 countries and employ greater than 10,000 people.
Adcock's stock gained 6.9% before the company admitted that it received the non-binding bid. This could lead to a proposal for all stock or a controlling share.
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