NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Abbott Laboratories is expected to buy Solvay SA's pharmaceuticals unit for 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion), with an announcement planned in the next 24 hours, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
The all-cash deal between the companies, which co-market the blockbuster drug Tricor for controlling blood fats called triglycerides, would give Abbott a number of new medicines in late-stages of testing and an entrance into the fast-growing business of vaccines.
'Abbott has no vaccines and this is a growing global market, so this is definitely an element that is attracting Abbott,' the source said, noting that Solvay's relatively small vaccines business is focused on influenza.
The deal would also broaden Abbott's current presence in emerging markets, a mushrooming focus for healthcare companies that can no longer count on sizzling revenue growth from the mature U.S. market.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson) Keywords: ABBOTT/SOLVAY (Reuters Messaging: ransdell.pierson.reuters.com@reuters.net; (646 223-6034) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The all-cash deal between the companies, which co-market the blockbuster drug Tricor for controlling blood fats called triglycerides, would give Abbott a number of new medicines in late-stages of testing and an entrance into the fast-growing business of vaccines.
'Abbott has no vaccines and this is a growing global market, so this is definitely an element that is attracting Abbott,' the source said, noting that Solvay's relatively small vaccines business is focused on influenza.
The deal would also broaden Abbott's current presence in emerging markets, a mushrooming focus for healthcare companies that can no longer count on sizzling revenue growth from the mature U.S. market.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson) Keywords: ABBOTT/SOLVAY (Reuters Messaging: ransdell.pierson.reuters.com@reuters.net; (646 223-6034) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.