Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The company, “AstraZeneca”, a leading developer of coronavirus vaccines, agreed on Saturday to buy the Boston pharmaceutical company, Alexion, for $ 39 billion.
The acquisition is one of the biggest deals this year for the pharmaceutical industry and will expand AstraZeneca’s reach in the field of rare diseases, as Alexion has an immunization unit in Boston serving patients with rare disorders.
AstraZeneca, a British Swedish pharmaceutical company based in the United Kingdom, entered into a partnership with the University of Oxford to produce a vaccine for the Corona virus.
The vaccine is in its final stages of development and is now awaiting permission from European and British governments. Last month, the company found its vaccine to be 70% effective, but scientific experts raised concerns about a lack of transparency in reporting vaccine trial data, which could slow the approval timeline.
AstraZeneca agreed to pay the purchase price with a mixture of cash and stocks, saying it had secured a short-term loan of $ 17.5 billion from Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to help pay for it.
Both companies issued a press release on Saturday stating that their board of directors had unanimously approved the deal. The acquisition is still awaiting government regulations and shareholder approval, and the deal is expected to close in mid-2021, according to the press release. Alexion said in a statement to CNN that by combining its expertise in rare diseases with a comprehensive global reach and the broad portfolio of AstraZeneca, it will significantly expand its impact “to include patients we can serve around the world.”
After the acquisition, AstraZeneca expects to double its annual revenue until 2025. The company said Alexion would help with cash flow and reduce debt.
