Prestige Brands To Buy Insight Pharmaceuticals For $750 Mln

Prestige Brands Holdings Inc, a marketer and distributor of healthcare and cleaning products, said it would buy rival Insight Pharmaceuticals Corp for $750 million in cash to expand its range of feminine care products.

Prestige, known for its Dramamine motion sickness pills and Comet cleaning products, said it would also acquire tax attributes with a present value of about $100 million as part of its largest ever acquisition.

Insight Pharmaceuticals, whose investors include Swander Pace Capital and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, sells the Monistat brand of over-the-counter yeast infection treatment and home pregnancy tests.

This is the second acquisition by Prestige in less than two weeks. The company agreed last week to buy Hydralyte, an over-the-counter oral rehydration brand, from Australia-based Hydration Pharmaceuticals Trust for an undisclosed amount. (http://link.reuters.com/fyn58v)

Tarrytown, New York-based Prestige said the two acquisitions would boost its pro-forma revenue to about $800 million in the fiscal year started April.

The company said the Insight deal is also expected to immediately add to its earnings and free cash flow per share.

Prestige, in February, posted lower-than-expected results for the third quarter and cut its profit forecast for the year ended March as retailers reduced inventory due to weak customer traffic and higher competition.

The Insight deal is expected to close in the first half the current fiscal, the company said.

Sawaya Segalas, & Co LLC acted as exclusive financial adviser to Prestige.

Shares of the company closed at $27.31 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. They have fallen about 24 percent this year.