Solta Medical this month became a wholly owned subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX, TSE:VRX) after the completion of a $2.92-per-share tender offer.
Aesthetics devices maker Solta’s products will fold into Valeant’s existing aesthetics portfolio, the companies said, and Solta’s common stock came off the Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 23 as a result of the deal.
The merger was largely lauded as good news for Solta, which had fallen on hard times. In November 2013 the Hayward, Calif.-based medical aesthetics company said it would lay off 40 workers, or about 9% of its employee base, and shutter a Colorado plant it had picked up in the $31 million acquisition of Sound Surgical.
Valeant’s offer was announced 1 month later, representing a 40% premium over Solta’s closing price for Dec. 13, 2013.
The acquisition gives Valeant the broadest aesthetic portfolio in the industry," chairman & CEO J. Michael Pearson said at the time.
"Solta’s leading aesthetic devices are a natural fit with Valeant’s facial injectables, professional skin care products and physician dispensed products and will establish Valeant in a strong leadership position as we continue to build our presence in the aesthetic market," he said. "Moreover, this transaction will further enhance our ability to offer dermatologists and plastic surgeons the most comprehensive aesthetic product offering."
The Solta acquisition is not Valeant’s 1st move in the medtech market. Early last year the Laval, Quebec based pharma player shelled out a whopping $8.7 billion to Warburg Pincus for Bausch & Lomb.