Valeant CEO still on hunt for health-care buys
Wants drugmaker to be in Top 5 in world within two years
TORONTO/NEW YORK — Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Can- ada’s largest drugmaker, said it is seeking acquisitions in ophthalmology, dermatology and dentistry.
These areas “are growing faster than the overall growth rate of health care,” chief executive Mike Pearson said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Pearson, who took the helm of Valeant in 2008, has spent at least $19 billion U.S. buying more than 35 companies as he works toward his goal of making Valeant one of the world’s Top 5 drugmakers by the end of 2016. The $8.7-billion purchase of eyecare company Bausch & Lomb last year — his biggest to date — added contact lens brand Optima to Valeant’s roster, which includes the Fraxel laser treatment for skin care and Zovirax for cold sores.
Valeant’s shares have jumped almost tenfold to more than $140 in New York on his watch as investors have warmed to his acquisitionfuelled pledge. That has lifted the market value of the Laval-based company, which trades in Toronto and New York, to about $47 billion, making it the fifth-largest company in Canada as of Tuesday.
Still, Valeant remains much smaller than the companies Pearson aims to replicate. Sanofi, the current fifth-largest drugmaker in the world, has a market value of about $134 billion.
Valeant fell 2.3 per cent to close at $140.79 in New York Wednesday.