King Pharmaceuticals to Buy Alpharma

King Pharmaceuticals said Monday that it had agreed to acquire Alpharma for about $1.6 billion, expanding King's presence in the market for pain drugs.

The price, $37 a share, represents a premium of 54 percent over Alpharma's closing price of $24.04 on Aug. 21, the day before King made its first offer of $33 a share.

King, based in Bristol, Tenn., raised the bid when Alpharma resisted its approach.

The agreement, if approved by shareholders, will give King an Alpharma pain drug, Kadian, and a pain patch, Flector, in addition to drugs to treat animals.

It also gives King the Alpharma experimental pain drug Embeda. That drug, together with the experimental pain drug Remoxy from King and its partner Pain Therapeutics, could heighten King's competitiveness in the race for painkillers that cannot be abused.

Stock in King rose 68 cents, or 8 percent, to $9.30 a share. Stock in Alpharma, which is based in Bridgewater, N.J., rose $2.69, or 8 percent, to $36.19 a share.