British firm to acquire cough drug seller Adams

Britain’s Reckitt Benckiser agreed to buy U.S. cough and congestion medicine group Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc. on Monday for $60 a share in cash, or $2.3 billion, to mark its entry into the U.S. healthcare market.

The move comes as Reckitt, a household goods maker with products including Lysol disinfectant, is expanding into healthcare with last year’s purchase of Boots’ Nurofen painkillers and Strepsil throat lozenges.

Its purchase this time is a Nasdaq-listed specialty pharmaceutical group based in Chester, N.J., marketing two over-the- counter cough treatments, Mucinex and Delsym, in the U.S.

Reckitt Chief Executive Bart Becht said he expected to double the size of the Adams business within five years.

Adams’ sales have grown to $332 million this year as of June from $14 million four years before, with 80% of sales coming from Mucinex, the U.S. leader in adult expectorants.

Income before taxes for the year to June was $48 million.

Adams shares rose $15.62, or 36%, to $59.30, their highest since they sold for $17 in a July 2005 initial public offering.