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...Mr Wijers started by spinning off Organon to Schering Plough in 2007....
...In his most controversial move, Mr Wijers sold the Organon pharmaceuticals company, the Netherlands’ largest, to Schering-Plough in order to tighten AkzoNobel’s focus on paints and chemicals....
...Akzo is also looking to sell its pharmaceutical unit Organon to Schering-Plough for $14.4bn. Akzo stock has gained more than 7.7 per cent since it announced the sale of its drug business....
...Dutch interest in its British rival was telegraphed by the sale of its healthcare business, Organon....
...In March, Schering Plough, the US pharmaceuticals group, beat private equity firms in the auction for Organon Biosciences, an Akzo Nobel-owned pharmaceuticals unit....
...Schering reported net income of $713m or 45 cents per common share compared with $287m, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier, including a big boost related to the acquisition of Akzo Nobel NV’s Organon...
...Schering-Plough had been stalking the Organon unit for as long as two years, and Organon’s experimental drug to treat precisely that condition has had a recent shift in its fortunes....
...Admittedly, Serono had little in the way of a pipeline, while Organon has five products in late stage development....
...Akzo Nobel said it had rejected private equity advances for Organon Biosciences, its drugs division, and reaffirmed plans to float a minority of the unit....
...Amongst these, six firms groups are singled out for having upside potential of greater than 20 per cent: ENI, Continental, Metro, DSM, Akzo Nobel (which even after the sale of Organon still has break-up...
...Analysts had speculated that the cash generated by the sale or flotation of Organon could provide a war-chest for Akzo to buy ICI, the UK paint company....
...Schering-Plough will acquire Organon for approximately €11bn in cash ($14.4bn based on closing exchange rate on March 9, 2007)....
...Schering-Plough was also probably prepared to assign a higher value to Organon’s animal health business, which, joined with its own, will rival Pfizer for the top slot in that industry....
...He called Organon “an unappreciated gem” among European drugmakers....
...Akzo Nobel leapt 15.7 per cent to €53.68 after it announced the €11bn sale of its Organon drugs unit to Schering-Plough of the US....
...Brief lives Organon BioSciences will go down as one of the shortest-lived pharmaceutical companies in history....
...buyers have an edge over private equity firms in the quest for assets because of their extensive market knowledge and ability to extract synergies, as seen in Schering Plough’s recent €11bn acquisition of Organon...
...Organon’s value as been put at something north of €9bn by sector analysts....
...Akzo last year appointed Morgan Stanley and ABN Amro as bookrunners for an IPO of Organon and has not asked the two banks to run a simultaneous sale process....
...Bayer’s pricey acquisition of Schering – viewed as a peer to Organon – set pulses racing in March....
...The swing factor is Organon itself....
...Akzo Nobel rose another 0.8 per cent to €54.11 after gaining 15 per cent on Monday as analysts welcomed the sale of its Organon drugs unit to Schering-Plough of the US....
...Akzo Nobel, the Dutch chemicals and drugs group, rose 2.4 per cent to €48.12 as talk that it might sell its Organon pharmaceuticals unit outright rekindled speculation that the company might bid for ICI....
...Analysts said Akzo, which had previously been looking to float 30 per cent of Organon Biosciences, now had a warchest and could launch a bid for ICI....
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