Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Biovail Merge – Moves to Canada from Orange County For Better Tax Breaks

I remember Valeant when it was ICN years ago here in Orange County. As you can read below the one big reason for the merge and move is not only combining employees but also the tax credits that were about to expire, so we lose one here in the US to Canada.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in Aliso Viejo, which has made 15 acquisitions since 2008, is merging with Canadian drug maker Biovail Corp.

The resulting company will be called Valeant Pharmaceuticals but will be headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where Biovail is based. Biovail sells Wellbutrin XL antidepressant and GlaxoSmithKline's Zovirax, a treatment for herpes.

Being a Canadian company lets it obtain a tax friendly corporate structure just as Valeant’s tax credits were set to expire, according to Reuters, which says the new company expects to cut 15% to 20% of its combined workforce of about 4,400.

Both companies have colorful histories, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. ICN was founded by Milan Panic, one-time premier of Yugoslavia who departed the company after losing a proxy fight in 2002. Biovail’s founder Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators National Hockey League team, lost his own board fight in 2008.