Saga ends as Perrigo to buy Elan for $8.6bn

Irish biotechnology company Elan is to be bought by Perrigo — the leading maker of generic over-the- counter drug products in the US — for $8.6bn (€6.5bn).

The announcement of the agreement — the deal is not expected to formally conclude until the end of the year — brings to an end months of speculation surrounding Elan’s future ownership, with the company having been the focus of a hostile approach from US intellectual property firm, Royalty Pharma. It also had a number of other unsolicited offers and had only last month formally put itself up for sale.

The likes of Allergan, Mylan and Forest Laboratories had been mentioned as possible suitors, with Perrigo’s name gaining weight in recent weeks.