The top executive of Actavis Inc, which sources say is pursuing a "white knight" acquisition of Allergan Inc, made a case Wednesday for doing a deal, saying the drug company could continue to grow earnings and manage its debt load."If there was an opportunity, I think we've demonstrated as a team that if it was the right strategic opportunity with strong financial fundamentals that created long term enduring growth for our company, we would be very interested," Actavis Chief Executive Brent Saunders told analysts during a conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings.During the call, Deutsche Bank analyst Gregory Gilbert asked Saunders about the importance of biologics, and quipped on a potential name for the merged companies: "I'll skip the "Actergan" question for now."Saunders responded, "Is that like Bennifer? You coined the first new phrase there?" - referring to a name used by the media for celebrities Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez when they were dating.
Allergan, Inc. is a multi-specialty health care Company focused on developing and commercializing pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices and over-the-counter products. Shares of AGN fell by 0.8% or $-1.57/share to $193.55. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $88.34 and as high as $196.54. On average, 2376250 shares of AGN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 535073.
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