Novartis skal bruke ca 10 mrd dollar årlig på oppkjøp fremover. For 20% av det beløpet kunne de snappet opp Nano for en ok pris.
Narasimhan is just one year into his stint as CEO of the Swiss pharma giant, but he’s already established himself as a dealmaker. He not only engineered the AveXis deal last year, he also picked up the radiotherapy company Endocyte for $2.1 billion.
And now, Narasimhan says he plans to spend at least $10 billion a year on acquisitions. “We’ll have to be on top of the next wave of innovations,” he told Bloomberg, adding that he’s searching for acquisition targets that would have a “transformative effect” on Novartis.
During Novartis’ fourth-quarter earnings call in January, one analyst asked Narasimhan to explain his goal of spending $10 billion a year on acquisitions. The CEO replied that the goal is actually “to do M&A in the range of up to 5% of our market cap,” which would amount to $10 billion.
The main goal, however, is to build upon “these new … advanced therapy platforms where we want to lead,” he said, adding “bolt-on M&A has to be part of that strategy.”
