By Tracey Arial
www.thesuburban.com
Last week was another heady week for Laval-based Valeant.
Their U.S. bid failed, their Manitoba manufacturing plant was expanded and they put their only other Canadian manufacturing site in St. Laurent up for sale.
The week began on Friday, Nov. 14 when Valeant’s 94,000 square foot manufacturing facility at 1956 Bourdon Street in St. Laurent went up for sale. The property has been in Cushman and Wakefield hands since November 2013.
The company international headquarters remain in Laval, and includes the Dr. Renaud Laboratory. Quebec expansion was crucial to getting the company a $3.5 million subsidy and a $2.5 million interest free loan from the Quebec government in April 2012, when the decision to create a head office in the province was announced.
Presumably, CEO Michael Pearson still lives in New Jersey, but no one returned calls by press time.
Then again, company PR people have been wildly busy. On Monday, Nov. 17, Irish pharmaceutical maker Actavis paid $66 billion for Botox-maker Allergan, which Valeant was chasing as a hostile take-over.
A day later, Valeant directors refused to match the $219 per share bid.
By Friday, the company was buying back $2 billion of its own common shares and securities, which went up seven per cent after they dropped the bid to take over Allergan.
That same day, Friday, Nov. 21, Valeant announced the grand opening of a newly improved manufacturing facility for Bausch and Lomb in Steinbach, Manitoba. The new facility will employ an additional 60 people over and above the previous workforce, which was not specified.
Unless another takeover is in the works, Valeant will soon receive a $400 million payment from William Ackman, the owner of Pershing Square and Valeant’s partner in the proposed Allergan takeover. That figure represents 15 percent of the profit Ackman will make after selling his Allergan shares at a significant price hike over the $1.63 he initially paid.
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