Philip Morris Values Vectura at 1.02 Billion Pounds in New Bid

(Bloomberg) -- Philip Morris International Inc. is raising its bid for the U.K. asthma drug maker Vectura Group Plc to 165 pence per share, it announced on Sunday.

The fresh offer values Vectura’s shares at about 1.02 billion pounds ($1.4 billion), according to an emailed statement. Philip Morris’ bid improves on its 150 pence-per-share offer announced on July 9, and tops a competing offer made by the private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. on Friday of 155 pence a share.

Carlyle initially agreed in May to buy Vectura -- a maker of inhalers and nebulizers -- before Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro and other cigarette brands, emerged with a competing offer.

New York-based Philip Morris is pursuing revenue sources outside cigarettes, with new products such as IQOS heated-tobacco devices, as more people across the developed world quit smoking. It’s aiming for at least $1 billion in sales outside nicotine by 2025.

In a statement, Philip Morris said it intends to boost research and development spending and plans to use Vectura as the backbone of its inhaled therapeutics business.

Spokespeople for Wiltshire, England-based Vectura didn’t immediately reply to messages seeking comment outside of normal business hours. The company had described Carlyle’s new offer as superior to Philip Morris’s July bid on price and timing, and said it was “well aligned with Vectura’s wider stakeholder objectives.”

Carlyle didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.