Vectura and Skyepharma (SKP) have announced they have reached a merger agreement; under the terms of the deal SKP shareholders will be entitled to receive 2.7977 new Vectura shares for every SKP share, valuing the company at £441.3m or 410.15p per share. Our last published valuation (A shining start to 2016) of SKP is 422p/share. The rationale for the merger is to combine the complementary inhalation businesses and create an industry-leading respiratory speciality business to accelerate growth in the global inhaled market and provide shareholders of the enlarged company with a broader product and development portfolio. Based on the closing share price on 15 March, the newly enlarged group would have had a proforma market capitalisation of £1,014.3m.
