Horizon stockholders approve Vidara acquisition

Deerfield-basedHorizon Pharma stockholders approved the company's acquisition of Vidara Therapeutics, opening the company to move its headquarters to Ireland.

Horizon Pharma announced in March that it would buy privately-held Vidara Therapeutics International Ltd. of Ireland in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $660 million. The deal will create an Ireland-based company named Horizon Pharma PLC.

Vidara has operations in both Dublin and the United States. It bought immune system disorder drug Actimmune from InterMune Inc. in 2012 for $55 million. The drug tallied nearly $59 million in sales for Vidara last year.

In addition to adding Actimmune to its product portfolio, the company in March said the deal gives it a "tax efficient corporate structure" to support growth and acquisitions.

The merger remains subject to certain other closing conditions and approval, including the substitute listing of New Horizon's ordinary shares on the Nasdaq stock market, the company said in a release. Horizon expects the closing to occur on Sept. 19 after satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions.