Merck Signs $5 Billion Share Buyback Agreement with Goldman Sachs
By Sakthi Prasad | May 22, 2013 10:10 AM EDT
Merck & Co Inc said it has entered into a $5 billion share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs Group Inc, as the drug giant looks to prop up shareholder value in face of stiff competition from makers of less-costly generics.
Under the accelerated share repurchase agreement (ASR), Merck has agreed to repurchase about 99.5 million shares from Goldman Sachs based on current market prices.
"We don't have consensus share count post-Q1 earnings to quantify the impact of the accelerated repurchase, but we believe this is a positive sign of Merck attempting to create shareholder value," ISI Group analyst Mark Schoenebaum said in a note to clients.
Merck's board had authorized additional purchases of up to $15 billion of its common stock and said that it would buy back about $7.5 billion over the next 12 months.
Sales of Merck's asthma drug Singulair plunged 75 percent to $337 million in the first quarter. The pill was Merck's biggest product, with annual sales of $6 billion, before cheaper generics flooded the U.S. market last August.
More pain from generics is in store. Merck's Maxalt migraine drug recently lost patent protection and its Temodar brain cancer medicine will soon face cheaper copycats.
Merck aims to seek marketing approval this year for a handful of new drugs, including a sleep aid called suvorexant now before U.S. regulators. It is counting on these products to help offset plunging sales of Singulair, Maxalt and Temodar.
Most Popular
-
1
Setting Boundaries: Why It Is Important to Separate Personal and Professional Relationships -
2
Workplace Distractions That Kill Productivity: It's in Our Hands All the Time -
3
Airlines Industry Report: Passenger and Cargo Airline Employment Statistics as of May 2024 -
4
Diehard Democrat Fired After Posting What She Intended to Be 'Comedic' About Trump’s Assassination -
5
Customs and Border Protection Works with Canines as Biosensors of Smuggled Fentanyl, Firearms at the Mexico Border -
6
Secret Service Faces Scrutiny Over Trump’s Assassination, Causing Calls for The Chief’s Resignation -
7
Even Elon Musk Hates Office Jargons. Here’s Why