Merck & Co. Inc.’s $9.5 billion acquisition of Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. will extend the big pharma further into acute care with a portfolio of antibiotics marketed through the hospital setting. Merck and Cubist announced they reached a merger agreement Dec. 8, with Merck agreeing to pay $8.4 billion in cash and pick up $1.1 billion in net debt.
Merck will acquire Cubist for $102 per share in cash, a 35% premium to Cubist’s average stock price for the most recent five trading days