US firm closes on Elan deal

US DRUG firm Alkermes expects to complete its acquisition of Elan’s drug delivery business next week and move its headquarters to Dublin by the end of the year, after shareholders approved the deal yesterday.

Alkermes said about 99.9% of its shareholders approved the $960 million (€682m) deal struck in May, in which Elan will get €500m cash and a 25% stake in Alkermes which can be reduced after a six-month lock-up period.

Alkermes is considering a stock market listing in Dublin to add to its main listing on Nasdaq, but was concentrating on wrapping up the deal before making a decision, chief executive Richard Pops said.

“There’s a whole lot of administrative things that need to be completed and we’re targeting September 16 to be done.

“We’re just about to complete a lease on space in Dublin and we’ll be into that by the end of the year we hope.”

With Elan Drug Technologies (EDT) under its belt, Alkermes will have revenue in excess of $450m (€323m) annually from 25 products including treatments for bipolar disorder, and adjusted core profit of $80m (€57m).

Pops said the overwhelming support in yesterday’s vote underscored the logic of the deal.

“Back in May when we announced the transaction we weren’t quite sure how the world would react to the idea of this very well known Boston company becoming an Irish company.

“Usually in these type of transactions, you don’t expect 99.9% of the shareholders to vote in favour of the deal so the market, in effect, has spoken and they endorse the idea.”

Alkermes will report second-quarter results in early November.