Allergan Inc., which saw its shares surge Tuesday on takeover speculation, is looking for acquisitions of its own, Chief Executive David Pyott told Bloomberg.
Pyott declined to address speculation that Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline PLC could be interested in buying the company. The speculation was sparked Tuesday by a report on Web site DealReporter.com.
Allergan also has seen a big run-up in buying of call options,bets that a stock will go up in price, as is often the case in an acquisition.
Pyott told Bloomberg he didn’t rule out a sale of the drug maker.
“Somebody would have to come out with a very compelling proposition,” he said.
A midsize drug maker in a market dominated by big companies, Allergan long has been the subject of takeover speculation.
GlaxoSmithKline’s predecessor SmithKline Beecham PLC acquired Allergan in 1980 and later spun off the business.
In 2005, Allergan agreed to share promotion of blockbuster wrinkle remover Botox with Glaxo and to help market two Glaxo migraine drugs.
Allergan is looking for acquisitions of its own, Pyott said.
“We are constantly looking at new opportunities,” he told Bloomberg. “We have well over a billion in the bank, and we could do a multibillion-dollar deal if it made sense.”
The company is looking for deals that would boost its medical cosmetics niche, according to Pyott.
Besides Botox, Allergan makes a lower-face wrinkle filler, breast implants, an obesity treatment and an eyelash lengthener.
Allergan faces a big competitor after January’s $1.1 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson of Mentor Corp., a Santa Barbara-based Allergan rival that makes breast implants.
And flagship Botox faces looming competition from Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. of Scottsdale, which is working with France’s Ipsen SA on Reloxin.
Allergan’s last acquisition was in October 2007. It paid $370 million for Esprit Pharma Inc., a New Jersey maker of a drug to treat overactive bladders.
