Allergan to Buy Fat Treatment Maker Zeltiq for $2.3 Billion

By Austen Hufford 

Allergan PLC said it would buy Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., the maker of a fat-reducing treatment, for $2.26 billion.

Allergan is paying $56.50 a share, a 14% premium to the company's Friday closing price of $49.40. Zeltiq's CoolSculpting system is U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved to freezes fat cells, causing them to self-destruct over several months. The treatment, currently done at dermatologists, plastic surgeons and other doctors' offices, is approved to reduce fat at the love handles, abdomen, thighs and below the chin.

Allergan says the deal will add to earnings and is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Last year, Allergan and Pfizer Inc. terminated a planned $150 billion merger after the Obama administration took aim at the deal. Allergan completed the sale of its generics business to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Allergan said in November that it would return more cash to shareholders because the drugmaker isn't interested in a making a megadeal.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 13, 2017 08:58 ET (13:58 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.