WSJ :Valeant Pharmaceuticals to Buy Salix for About $10 Billion

Valeant Pharmaceuticals to Buy Salix for About $10 Billion
Deal will roughly double Quebec-based Valeant’s debt

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. said Sunday it would buy Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for about $10 billion, a return to its big deal-making ways after a failed bid for Botox maker Allergan Inc. last year.

Quebec-based Valeant said it would pay $158 a share in cash for Salix. That is just above Friday’s closing price of $157.85 for the Raleigh, N.C., drug company’s shares, which had risen recently on reports of a potential deal.

The deal will take Valeant into a growing, multibillion-dollar market for drugs treating stomach disorders like traveler’s diarrhea. Valeant estimates the overall U.S. market for stomach-disorder treatments is $5 billion and growing 5% a year, while Salix’s sales are growing even faster than that.

Yet the deal will come at a cost for Valeant, roughly doubling its debt to $31 billion, according to Chief Executive Michael Pearson.

Advertisement

Also, Salix is a tarnished asset. In November, Salix disclosed a revision to its wholesale-inventory levels that suggested demand for its drugs might not be as high as previously thought. In recent months, the company’s chief financial officer and chief executive have left.

Valeant expects to lose out on about $500 million in sales this year as distributors reduce drug inventory levels to adjust for the accounting issues, Mr. Pearson said.

Valeant sells eye and skin drugs. It had signaled in recent months that it would focus on growing its own businesses, after the company had failed to win Allergan. The Botox maker, which was bought by Actavis PLC for $66 billion, criticized Valeant as a deal machine.

Mr. Pearson said Valeant’s fourth-quarter results, released Sunday, showed that the company was growing its own business substantially. Valeant reported total revenue of $8.3 billion last year, up 43% over the prior year.

Valeant will report the results from recent acquisitions like Salix separately to show how the underlying business is doing, Mr. Pearson said. He said Valeant would “continue to focus on the small and midsize deals.”

In just in the past few weeks Valeant moved to buy prostate-cancer treatment Provenge and other assets from bankrupt Dendron Corp. for $495 million.

But Salix was too good to pass up, Mr. Pearson said.

He said Salix was especially attractive because its 300 sales representatives are well-respected by physicians and drugs are getting reimbursed. In addition, he said, Valeant reached a deal for Salix at an “attractive price” because the drug-inventory issues had scared away some suitors.

“This opportunity came up,” he said. “And we are very opportunistic.”

Valeant expects the transaction to close in the second quarter and to begin adding to company earnings this year. The company expects more than $500 million in cost savings from both companies within six months.

Salix’s bankers at Centerview Partners began reaching out to interested bidders late last year, according to people familiar with the matter. Five companies—Valeant, Shire PLC, Endo International PLC, Mylan Inc. and Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. —expressed interest, one of the people said.

Officials at Endo, Takeda, Mylan and Shire didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Discussions with Valeant were never exclusive, and the process remained competitive until late last week, that person said. Valeant’s bid, which is to be financed with bonds and loans from Deutsche Bank AG and others, was the highest by several dollars per share, the person said.

The deal will be structured as a tender offer, with Valeant purchasing shares directly from Salix investors. Such deals typically move faster than mergers that require a shareholder vote, which can take months.

Salix’s top-selling product, an antibiotic called Xifaxan for traveler’s diarrhea, is up for Food and Drug Administration approval for treatment of diarrhea caused by irritable bowel syndrome. The expanded use could add $1 billion in yearly sales, Sterne Agee’s Shibani Malhotra estimates.

But it could face competition from an Actavis drug also up for approval, though patients could take both drugs at the same time. After lacking treatments for years, the stomach-disorder market has been heating up, with AstraZeneca PLC and Shire also major players.

Last year, Salix won approval for three drugs. The company, which was scheduled to report its 2014 earnings on March 2, said it had about $1.1 billion in total net product revenue during the first nine months of last year.

(ManagerMag) Apple Car Plans: Daimler CEO Zetsche has respect but no fear

Apple Car Plans: Daimler CEO Zetsche has respect but no fear
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche wants Apple "good luck" with his iCar, but remains calm: "We have a lot of experience in the automotive industry," Apple "has not". Perhaps the Daimler CEO makes the bill without Magna.

Stuttgart / Berlin - speculation about an introduction of the computer giant Apple Show chartcan cold Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche into the automobile business. "We have long experience in the automotive industry, we invented the car. And experience is in such a complex business like the automotive industry with critical. Those who now start there, has not," Zetsche said the "Welt am Sonntag".


"When we announced tomorrow that Daimler builds future smartphones, Apple would not worry or thrown off course. And the same goes for us. " If Apple enter into business with cars , Zetsche would therefore wish "good luck and new competitors welcome ".
Apple developed according to media reports, an electric car. For iPhone Group, this would be a radical advance in a completely different industry - but Apple wants this may be due to the auto supplier Magna International Show chartset.

"We have respect for any serious competitor," Zetsche said. "And if this is a company that has a strong economic background, which is undoubtedly a potential strength of a competitor."
However, the Daimler CEO made it clear that there is more than one hundred car brands in the world. "Some are in direct competition with us, others less so. Whether it is because a more or less, is irrelevant. We go our way."

Nevertheless, the Daimler CEO sees a growing area coverage between auto and IT industry, enables new potential. Problems but it could be data protection - such as the autonomous driving. "We need to look very closely, when data are generated for what purpose," Zetsche warned loudly "Handelsblatt". "The trust placed by a customer on us when it comes to security is particularly true for the security of its data."

WSJ : New Cancer Technology Gives Investors a Shot in the Arm

New Cancer Technology Gives Investors a Shot in the Arm
Immunotherapy’s Promise Is Drawing Some Marquee Financiers

George Soros , Michael Milken and David Bonderman are among marquee investors benefiting from early bets on a red-hot sector: young companies developing drugs that fight cancer by using the body’s immune system.

Interest in the nascent approach, known as immunotherapy, has taken off following the success of Yervoy and Opdivo, a pair of drugs developed by giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The treatments could generate $8.5 billion in annual revenue by 2020, Credit Suisse predicts, or more than half the New York company’s 2014 revenue of $15.9 billion.

Hopes that fledgling companies will repeat and extend upon those advances are behind the recent share-price gains in Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kite Pharma Inc. and bluebird bio Inc. Their treatments, which take a different approach than Bristol-Myers’s, haven’t yet reached the market.

“It’s clearly something new and it won’t be smooth sailing,” said Arie Belldegrun, Kite’s chairman and chief executive. “But if we can deliver what we promise, for the first time you won’t talk about remission, you can even talk about cure of cancer.”

Earlier this month, Standard & Poor’s released a report naming five cancer immunotherapy agents among its top 10 drug prospects for 2015, underscoring growing enthusiasm for the strategy. Drugs made the list for their likely blockbuster sales potential as well as their probable impact on individual companies. No such drugs were included on its previous list in 2009.

More companies are gaining “insights into underlying biology plus an understanding of biological systems that should transform the treatment of many extremely serious diseases,” said James E. Flynn, managing partner at Deerfield Management Co., an investment firm betting on the area.

Among companies fueling current interest, only Bristol-Myers and Merck & Co. have had immunotherapy drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For many of the smaller-cap companies, it will be a year or more before studies help clarify the benefits, risks and market potential of their treatments.

Shares of Juno, which is developing therapies for leukemias and lymphomas, ended Friday’s trading at $45.52, following a December initial public offering at $24. Kite Pharma has soared to $62.80 from $28 since the beginning of October. Bluebird bio, driven more by advances by gene-therapy drugs than in immunotherapy, has climbed to $93.32 from $39 since early December.

The three companies’ treatments are complex, likely to be expensive and cause severe side effects for some patients; none has yet been approved. But the strategy has shown dramatic results in leukemia and other blood cancers in early trials and researchers are racing to find ways to extend their use to other cancers.

Indeed, researchers world-wide are working on various types of immunotherapy treatments, as well as strategies to combine them with existing treatments to tackle all kinds of cancer and extend their benefits to more patients.

Mr. Bonderman, a founder of TPG Capital, is Kite’s fourth-largest shareholder and a board member, with over 6% of the company’s stock from an early, personal investment, according to FactSet. He has seen his holdings soar to about $145 million in value.

Another early investor, hedge-fund veteran Donald Sussman, founder of Paloma Partners Management, holds a Kite stake worth about $100 million, according to regulatory filings. Representatives of Messrs. Bonderman and Sussman declined to comment.

George Soros’s Soros Fund Management owns about 1.7% of Kite Pharma Inc.’s shares. ENLARGE
George Soros’s Soros Fund Management owns about 1.7% of Kite Pharma Inc.’s shares. PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
The firm that manages George’s Soros’s wealth, Soros Fund Management, is Kite’s 11th-largest holder. It owns about 1.7% of the company’s stock after purchasing the shares at less than $30 each last summer, according to filings. A spokesman declined to comment.

Michael Milken also was an early investor in the company, said Mr. Belldegrun. A spokesman for Mr. Milken, who declined to confirm the investment, said the former junk-bond king’s “more than four decades of philanthropic work in medical research and public health has given him a deep understanding of the potential for lifesaving advances.”

Deerfield Management owns about 4% of the shares of bluebird, according to the most recent filings, while Steve Cohen ’s Point72 Asset Management LP owns nearly 2% of the shares. A spokesman for Point72 didn’t comment.

Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen are investors in Juno, says Robert Nelsen, co-founder of Seattle-based venture-capital firm Arch Venture Partners, which controls stakes worth about $1 billion in nearly a half dozen companies pursuing immunotherapy and other cancer treatments. Arch owns about $470 million in shares of Juno, a company Arch co-founded, as well as $78 million of bluebird.

“I have been creating biotech companies for 28 years and this is the first one where the jaded doctors who have seen everything and have lost hope are shaking their heads in amazement,” said Mr. Nelsen, a managing director at Arch, which manages more than $2 billion.

A spokesman for Mr. Allen confirmed his investment in Juno. A spokesman for Amazon.com declined to comment.

Pension funds and venture-capital funds also are among those riding immunotherapy investments higher. The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. was an early investor in Juno and controls a nearly 30% stake in the company worth about $1.1 billion. The state investment fund has yet to cash out any shares.

Bristol and others working on immunotherapy drugs, including Merck, Roche Holding AG , AstraZeneca PLC and Novartis AG , are so large the financial impact of their immunotherapy drugs could be diluted by other businesses. That is why investors are bidding up smaller companies.

Not all the immunotherapy news has been upbeat, though: Dendreon Corp. , whose prostate cancer vaccine Provenge was hailed as the first immunotherapy at its approval in 2010, foundered amid limited efficacy, marketing gaffes, and better rival medicines. Dendreon is expected to be sold this month under bankruptcy court supervision to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. for $495 million.

The intense interest in immunotherapy, an idea that dates back to the 19th century, has emerged from a key discovery researcher James Allison made in the mid-1990s.

Dr. Allison, now the head of immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, discovered a way of releasing a natural brake on the immune system. Dr. Allison’s work paved the way for the development of Bristol-Myers’s Yervoy drug, which was approved in 2011 and was the first drug ever shown to improve survival in patients with advanced melanoma.

“Our understanding of the immune system, and how it interacts with cancer, has grown dramatically,” says Dr. Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, chief executive and director of scientific affairs at the Cancer Research Institute, which funds immunotherapy research.

(BGR) The MacBook Air is getting serious competition from an unexpected source

The MacBook Air is getting serious competition from an unexpected source

Dell seems to have gotten a lot more innovative ever since going private. Both Ars Technica and AnandTech have just published reviews of Dell’s new XPS 13 ultrabook and they both came away very impressed.

RELATED: Dell’s decade of product flops shows the dangers of scrambling to follow Apple

AnandTech’s benchmarks, for instance, show that the FHD XPS 13 has insanely good battery life that bests the MacBook Air and every other laptop on the market in terms of both light and heavy usage. In its concluding remarks, AnandTech praised the XPS 13’s for having “high quality build materials, a good keyboard, a good trackpad, and the latest generation Intel Ultrabook processor all inside a chassis with a display that is two sizes too big stuffed into it.”

Ars, meanwhile, writes that the XPS 13 not only matches what Apple offers with the MacBook Air but actually beats it.

“It’s a 13-inch Ultrabook in the body of an 11-inch Ultrabook,” Ars writes. “This extraordinary size is paired with an attractive, high-resolution screen, nice keyboard, and a decent touchpad, and the whole unit feels solid and well-built.”

Dell first unveiled the XPS 13 at CES this year and at the time we were impressed by its display that’s as close to bezel-free as we’ve seen on an ultrabook. We can’t wait to try the machine out for ourselves to see if it matches up with the significant hype.

>>> Ukraine military spokesperson Lysenko: Pro-Russia rebels building up forces

Ukraine military spokesperson Lysenko: Pro-Russia rebels building up forces and weapons in Ukraine's southeast; Potentially preparing to attack govt-controlled Mariupol - financial press 
- Says: "They are sending out small sabotage groups out almost every night. We can see the activities of the enemy around Novoazovsk where military hardware, fighters and ammunition are being amassed."

>>> Barrons Saturday summary: Positive on ANET, AAPL, HCA, SSP; Cautious on BNS

Barrons Saturday summary: Positive on ANET, AAPL, HCA, SSP; Cautious on BNS 

Cover story: Barrons annual list of the top 1,200 financial advisors and what they recommend; The average advisor and his or her team manages $2.42B this year, up from $2.16B in 2014 and $2.14B in 2013, with revenues rising accordingly.

Tech Trader: Positive on ANET: Company is emerging as a viable competitor to CSCO and could dent its dominance of the switching-equipment market; customers include MSFT and FB, and though shares are expensive, they may still be worth it if company doesnt make the mistakes JNPR did when it took on Cisco.

Trader: European stock markets have sharply outperformed the U.S. since the mid-correction last October in local currency terms, almost doubling up the S&P 500 indexs 13% rise; Cautious on BNS: By various metrics the shares appear cheap, and revenue should grow if firm can avoid any stumbles; The bottoms-up consensus of analysts anticipates a drop of 3.6% in Q1 earnings, according to Zacks, with energy-sector earnings likely to be down more than 60%.

Features: 1) Positive on Nasdaq: In 2000, the Nasdaq Composite traded at more than 100 times earnings, a far cry from 21 times earnings today; unlike during the dot-com era, strong profits now bolster it, and when the index tops 5000 again, it should stay there; 2) Positive on AAPL: Analysts are pushing shares up because they believe the iPhone has more upside, with only 15% or so of the user base having upgraded to the new model, and confidence in the Apple Watch is growing; shares could rise to more than $160 over the next year for a 25% return, including dividends; 3) Positive on HCA: Healthcare giants earnings could climb by 17% this year to reach a new high, and yet they trade in line with peers and the historical average.

Small Caps: Positive on SSP: Media company has a strong balance sheet and debt equal to two times annual cash flow once its merger with Journal Communications closes, and share buybacks are likely. 

Profile: Interview with Peter Collery and David Hurwitz of SC Fundamental, which targets deeply undervalued securities that have low intrinsic volatility and which has generated net annualized returns of 12.2% since its founding; Interview with Tom Herzfeld of the Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors (picks: KMF, FOFI, JQC, CCL, CX, CPA, LML, NCLH, RCL, SEB, VMC). 

Follow-Up: Beijing has a tough job ahead as it seeks to balance pressure to further weaken the yuan with its desire to prevent a loss of confidence in the currency as a store of value; Positive on AAL: Company intends to raise profits and returns to shareholders, and isnt depending on lower jet fuel prices to do so.European 

Trader: Positive on Ashtead Group (AHT.UK): Shares of British firm have dropped on fears about the U.K. economys exposure to the oil industry, but concerns could be overblown and shares could add 20% in the next 12 months. 

Asian Trader: Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong could see a boost this year, the region could be the biggest beneficiary of easing by the Peoples Bank of China because it trailed other markets last year (Positive on FXI, GXC, CHL, PTR). 

Emerging Markets: Positive on LTOUF, HDB, IBN, Bharti Infratel: Indian companies could do well if the countrys domestic-policy reforms proceed as planned.

Commodities: Arabica coffee prices are due for a rebound, but traders and analysts warn there are still risks to the current crop. 

CEO Spotlight: PNRA chief Ron Shaich, who brought artisanal bread and pay-what-you-can cafes to the restaurant chains operations. 

Streetwise: Columnist Ben Levisohn says discretionary stocks such as DIS, HD, and MCD could be headed for a drop, with valuation part of the problem. - Source TradeTheNews.com

>>> what to look at this week end



Macro :
- Russia’s Ratings Cut to Junk by Moody’s
- Oettinger Says Greece Must Keep Consolidation Path: Handelsblatt
- Germany Declined to Sell Armoured Vehicles to Lithuania: Welt
- Draghi Aided Greek Talks W/ Warning on Finances, Pais Says
- Shared Sovereignty Means Greek Compromise, EU Schulz Tells Pais
- ECB Said to See No Need for Greek Capital Controls After Deal

Keep an eye on :
- ARL GY : Aareal Bank Group Buys Westdeutsche Immobilienbank for EU350m
- AERL LN : Aer Lingus Staff Support IAG Takeover Bid, Business Post Reports
- BPI IM : CaixaBank’s Offer for BPI Is ‘Very Generous,’ CEO Tells Expresso
- CNHI IM : Iveco to Boost Czech Bus Output by 37%, Add Over 450 Jobs: CTK
- DAI GY : Mercedes Recalls 147,224 Vehicles on Hood Seal Fire Risk: NHTSA
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Considers Chinese Hua Xia Bank Stake Sale: WiWo
- DTE GY : Deutsche Telekom Buys 64% of DSW to Offer Sport Bets: Morgenpost
- EVD GY : Eventim Probed by German Antitrust Regulator: Die Welt
- GTO NA : Deutsche Telekom Encrypted Gemalto SIM Cards Prior to Spy Report
- LAD LN : Ladbrokes to Close About 50 Betting Shops, Sunday Times Reports
- NESN VX : Nestle Doesn’t Plan Outsourcing, Cantarell Says: SaS
- NUO NA : Water Island Capital Reports 3.17% Stake in Nutreco: AFM Filing
- 1913 HK : Prada Preliminary Sales for FY Ended Jan 31 Fall 1% to EUR3.55b
- PMO LN : Premier Oil to Lower Spending, May Cut Dividend: Sunday Times
- ROG VX : Roche to Outsource Avastin Production to Samsung, SaS Reports
- SGO FP : Saint-Gobain CEO Doesn’t Plan Swiss Job Cuts: Neue Zuger
- SHP LN : Shire Completes Purchase of NPS Pharmaceuticals
- UHR VX : Swatch Won’t Reduce Prices, CEO Hayek Says: Sonntagszeitung
- TCG LN : Thomas Cook Held Talks With Potential Buyers of Airline: Times
- TTKOM TI : Turk Telekom Mobile Unit Avea 2014 Sales Rose 12% to 4.31b Liras
- FP FP : Total CEO Expects Rising Oil Prices: Frankfurter Allgemeine

>>> Wind to reopen transmission tower auction, holds off on sale to Abertis

Wind to reopen transmission tower auction, holds off on sale to Abertis

Wind, the Italian mobile telco, has held off on on selling its transmission tower network to listed Spanish infrastructure group Abertis, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

The Italian-language daily cited unspecified rumours that Wind's owner, listed Russian mobile telco Vimpelcom, had taken the decision with a view to reopening the auction process and achieving a better deal.

On 19 February, Vimpelcom contacted EI Towers, the listed Italian transmission tower network owned by Mediaset, as well as a consortium of private equity firm Providence and Italian infrastructure fund F2i, to see if they were still interested in bidding, the report said..

The report said Abertis could possibly team with one of the bidders if the asking price for the transmission tower network goes up. Albertis was chosen as exclusive bidder for the assets in early February, the item said.

The report noted that Wind's transmission tower network is valued at EUR 700m-EUR 1bn.




Source Il Sole 24 Ore

Soros shifts to Europe, Asian investors cut US equities

Soros Fund Management, the family office of billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros, cut holdings of U.S. stocks in the fourth quarter and shifted assets globally.
Soros, which manages almost $30 billion, moved about $2 billion into companies in Asia and Europe, according to a person familiar with the strategy. The New York-based firm returned about 8 percent in 2014 and is up 1.5 percent this year, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the firm is private.
Other big hedge fund managers made a similar call on U.S. equities as a slide in oil prices hammered energy holdings. Hedge funds held about $1.6 trillion of U.S. equities at the end of the year compared with $1.8 trillion in the prior quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, based on 886 filings.
David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management had $2.74 billion less in U.S. stocks in the fourth quarter, a 40 percent drop from the previous quarter. Louis Bacon’s $14.8 billion Moore Capital Management had $2.3 billion in U.S. equities at the end of the year, about 25 percent less than the end of September, according to regulatory filings.
Some managers, such as Leon Cooperman, 71, remain bullish on the U.S., while predicting bigger gains elsewhere.
“We expect the European and Japanese equity markets to outperform the U.S. in the coming year,” Cooperman, who runs Omega Advisors, wrote in an investor letter last month.
Anticipation of more stimulus from the European Central Bank, along with a weaker euro and expectations of solid earnings, has had an affect on sending money overseas.
Jana Partners
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index posted its best January since 1989, climbing 7.3 percent with dividends reinvested, and is up 11 percent this year. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has gained 4.3 percent in 2015, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index had advanced 2.3 percent. The S&P 500 rose 4.4 percent last quarter.
Some funds concentrated their sales on oil and natural gas producers.
Jana Partners, the $11 billion hedge-fund firm run by Barry Rosenstein, had $2.7 billion less in U.S. holdings at the end of the fourth quarter. The New York-based firm, known for taking stakes in companies and then urging management to make changes to boost the stock price, exited its stakes in 41 U.S. stocks including QEP Resources Inc. and Apache Corp.
Hedge fund managers saw their holdings of health care, financials and consumer discretionary stocks rise during the quarter. The biggest individual increases were in Allergan Inc., Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc. and Tribune Media Co., according to Bloomberg data.
Soros, 84, who has a net worth of $26 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, added shares of Dow Chemical Co., sold stock in YPF SA and exited Apple Inc. His firm had 186 positions as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing, down by almost a third from the previous quarter.

WSJ: Valeant Nears Deal to Buy Salix


Valeant Nears Deal to Buy Salix
$10 billion deal would have Valeant pay $158/share in cash for Salix

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is nearing a deal to buy Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for about $10 billion, in the latest sign the rapid pace of consolidation in the drug industry is set to continue.

Valeant would pay $158 a share in cash for Salix, in a deal that could be announced as soon as Sunday, people familiar with the matter said. That is just above the drug company’s closing share price Friday of $157.85, following weeks of reports of the potential deal.

Bloomberg earlier reported that Valeant and Salix had reached a deal at $158 a share.

A transaction would represent a marriage of two companies that tried but failed last year to strike tie-ups amid a recent frenzy of deal making in the pharmaceutical sector. Many companies in the industry are seeking mergers that will help them become more efficient and keep up with rivals.

Valeant failed in a seven-month hostile effort to acquire Botox maker Allergan Inc., which eventually agreed to be bought by Actavis PLC for $66 billion.

When it was seeking to fend off Valeant, Allergan discussed an acquisition with Salix, though the talks never resulted in a deal. Actavis also considered acquiring Salix last summer, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

Salix, meanwhile, canceled its own planned acquisition of a unit of Italian drug maker Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SpA amid shareholder pushback and political pressure on such foreign tax-driven mergers, known as “inversions.”

Salix in November disclosed a revision to its wholesale-inventory levels that suggested demand for its drugs, which treat irritable-bowel syndrome, liver problems and other rare diseases, might not be as high as previously thought.

The disclosure sent Salix’s stock price tumbling and led the company to withdraw its earnings guidance for the year. It was followed by the departures of the company’s chief executive and chief financial officer.

Salix acted quickly to clear out its drug backlog, a move many investors saw as a sign it may quickly re-enter talks to be bought by a rival.

Agreed drug-company mergers soared last year to $267 billion, more than double the 2013 level. The trend has shown signs of continuing, with Shire PLC last month agreeing to pay $5.2 billion for NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc.