Pfizer To Acquire Array BioPharma In $11.4 Bln Deal - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) agreed Monday to acquire Array BioPharma Inc. (ARRY) for $48 per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of about $11.4 billion. The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the merger. Pfizer expects to complete the acquisition in the second half of 2019.

Array is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted small molecule medicines to treat cancer and other diseases of high unmet need.

The proposed deal strengthens Pfizer's biopharmaceutical business and expands its pipeline with multiple high-potential targeted investigational cancer therapies, adding a large portfolio of royalty-generating out-licensed medicines.

Array's portfolio includes the approved combined use of BRAFTOVI (encorafenib) and MEKTOVI (binimetinib) for the treatment of BRAFV600E or BRAFV600K mutant unresectable or metastatic melanoma. It is currently being investigated in over 30 clinical trials across several solid tumor indications, including the Phase 3 BEACON trial in BRAF-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

The deal also sets the stage to create a potentially industry-leading franchise for colorectal cancer alongside Pfizer's existing expertise in breast and prostate cancers.

Upon the close of the transaction, Array's employees will join Pfizer and continue to be located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Morrisville, North Carolina, as well as Boulder, Colorado, which becomes part of Pfizer's Oncology Research & Development network in addition to La Jolla, California and Pearl River, New York. Pfizer plans to maintain Array's highly productive research unit in Boulder to complement its research hubs.

Pfizer expects to finance the majority of the transaction with debt and the balance with existing cash. The transaction is expected to be dilutive to Pfizer's adjusted earnings per share by $0.04 -$0.05 in 2019, $0.04 -$0.05 in 2020, neutral in 2021, and accretive beginning in 2022, with additional accretion and growth anticipated thereafter.

Pfizer said it will provide any appropriate updates to its current 2019 guidance in conjunction with its third quarter 2019 earnings release.