Slaughter and May advised Allergan on the European merger control aspects of its acquisition by AbbVie. The transaction had an equity value of approximately USD $63 billion.
On 10 January 2020, following a Phase 1 investigation, the European Commission granted clearance of the transaction, conditional on the divestment of brazikumab, to a suitable purchaser. Brazikumab is Allergan’s IL-23 inhibitor pipeline product, under development for the treatment of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. On 21 February, the Commission approved AstraZeneca plc as the purchaser of the brazikumab divestment business. The transaction also involved merger approvals from other countries.
Kira Schwartz, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Allergan said of Slaughter and May’s advice in relation to the transaction: “Slaughter and May have helped us through the merger process with the European Commission and certain other jurisdictions. They coordinated well with our US antitrust Counsel, Weil Gotshal, and provided excellent support during the challenge of agreeing divestment undertakings with both the EU Commission and the FTC, and implementing the hold separate arrangements with the Monitoring Trustee.”
