Fresenius buys Lake Forest-based Akorn

With the $4.3 billion acquisition of Lake Forest-based generic drugmaker Akorn, announced late Monday, Fresenius will get a stronger foothold in the U.S., with access to a network of retail pharmacies and outpatient clinics as well as the hospitals where it has traditionally marketed its products.

Akorn will complement Fresenius' Kabi medicines unit, which specializes in intravenous drugs.

Fresenius, a German company with its U.S. headquarters in Lake Zurich, also made a smaller purchase Monday to gain Merck KGaA's portfolio of biosimilars, which are copycat versions of complex biotechnology drugs. It agreed to pay Merck $184.7 million, plus licensing fees.

The Akorn and biosimilar deals make even more sense together than individually, CEO Stephan Sturm said Monday.

"Akorn brings us additional U.S. market access to small- and mid-sized clinics and retail pharmacies," he said. "And that access will be important for our biosimilars."

Including debt, the Akorn deal has an enterprise value of $4.75 billion. Akorn's shares had jumped 30 percent since April 6, the day before Bloomberg News reported that Fresenius was considering a deal.

They were little changed at $32.80 following the announcement Monday, after the U.S. markets closed.

Akorn's biggest shareholder, John Kapoor, who owns a quarter of the stock, has agreed to support the deal, Fresenius said. Integrating the businesses will save about $100 million each year, the companies predicted.