U.S. drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc secured EU regulatory clearance on Friday to purchase Swiss peer Actavis Group for at least 4.25 billion euros ($5.53 billion) to reinforce its international reach. Watson, one of the world's biggest suppliers of generic drugs, said in April that the deal would immediately boost earnings. It forecast synergies of more than $300 million within three years.The European Commission said in a statement that the deal would not hurt competition."The investigation showed that despite significant changes in the competitive situation in some of the markets, a sufficient number of credible and strong competitors will continue to exercise a competitive constraint on the merged entity," the EU watchdog said.
Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Watson) is an integrated global pharmaceutical company engaged in the development, manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution of generic and brand pharmaceutical products. Shares of WPI traded higher by 0.71% or $0.62/share to $87.81. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $55.00 and as high as $87.59. On average, 1111560 shares of WPI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 118648.
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