Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline Complete Series of Deals

By Neil MacLucas

ZURICH--Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.LN) said Monday they had closed a series of transactions worth more than $20 billion that will fundamentally reshape both of the drug giants.

Basel-based Novartis said the deal, which was announced in April last year, refocuses the healthcare company on its key pharmaceuticals, eye care and generics businesses. By wrapping its business around those segments, Novartis hopes to improve its margins.

The deals transform London-based Glaxo into a vaccines-and-consumer-drug titan.

Novartis purchased Glaxo's oncology unit for around $14.5 billion, boosting the Swiss company's lineup of cancer products. The company will now get roughly a fifth of its nearly $54 billion in estimated annual revenue from cancer drugs.

Glaxo paid $5.25 billion for Novartis's vaccines business, acquiring the company's promising Bexsero meningitis B vaccine. Both deals could carry higher price tags if certain milestones are met.

In addition to the transactions with Glaxo, Novartis sold its animal-health business to Eli Lilly & Co. as part of the package of deals. In a separate deal, the Swiss drugs giant sold a diagnostics business to Spain's Grifols SA, another move to a sleeker portfolio of operations.

-Write to Neil MacLucas at [e-mail]

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