Pfizer Strikes Deal To Buy Hospira For $17 Billion

Pfizer Inc. PFE will acquire Hospira, Inc. HSP for $90 per share, a 39 percent premium to Wednesday's $64.80 closing price. The deal is valued at $15 billion in cash, though Pfizer will assume $1.75 billion in outstanding long-term debt, bringing the total value of the deal to near $17 billion.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2015.

Pfizer is looking to capitalize on Hospira’s market in sterile injectables and biosimilars, two large and growing categories. Last year, Hospira attempted a tax inversion deal with Danone SA’s medical-nutrition unit, though the deal never occurred.

Pfizer expects the deal to add $0.10-$0.12 per share to Pfizer’s earnings in the first full-year after the deal closes. By 2018, Pfizer expects the deal to result in $800 million in annual cost savings.

Pfizer was up in pre-market trade, gaining more than 2 percent to $32.80.

Hospira was up 35.5 percent at $88.