Jazz Tunes Up For Business Development

08 Aug 2013

• By Wendy Diller

With a highly competitive effective tax rate, half a billion dollars in cash, and access to attractively priced capital, specialty pharma Jazz, itself the subject of takeover rumors, has stepped up its ongoing hunt for late-stage assets.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. is poised to undertake “good transactions,” with a priority set on products that are currently on or close to the market, CFO Kathryn Falberg told analysts on a second-quarter earnings call on Aug. 7. The company has $504 million in cash, enjoys an adjusted effective tax rate of 18%, and says it has excellent access to attractively priced capital that could fuel upcoming deals.

Although the specialty pharma’s executives have shown interest previously in late-stage acquisitions, they now seem to ready to step up...