Novartis to buy pharmaceutical group AAA for US$3.9b

Zurich

NOVARTIS is buying French-based Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) for US$3.9 billion, giving the Swiss drugmaker a platform in radiopharmaceuticals and access to a new therapy for the kind of cancer that killed Steve Jobs.

The cash offer of US$41 per ordinary share and US$82 per American depositary share represents a 47 per cent premium to AAA's price before media reports on Sept 27 that Novartis was interested. The ADS closed on Friday at US$72.91 and were priced at only US$16 when they listed two years ago.