RALEIGH – PRA Health Sciences announced financial results that exceeded Wall Street expectations Wednesday morning – then announced it had been acquired in a $ 12 billion deal by Ireland-based ICON. As a result, Raleigh loses a company’s headquarters.
The combined company ICON-PRA will be based in Dublin.
And ICON pays a high price – the deal is valued at 30% of PRA’s stock price before the announcement. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Shares of PRA (Nasdaq: PRAH) were up more than 20% on the news to $ 154. The company has about 17,000 employees worldwide. The company moved its headquarters to Raleigh in 2008 (its current location is on Parklake Avenue near Crabtree Valley Mall) and has approximately 600 employees in Raleigh, according to the Triangle Book of Lists.
Colin Shannon, PRA’s chairman and CEO, will join the combined company’s board of directors once the deal is closed.
ICON, which has approximately 19,000 employees, and PRA were competitors in the global life sciences industry known as contract research organizations or CROs.
The Triangle is a hub for the CRO industry, home base or location for major operations for companies such as Syneos Health, IQVIA, LabCorp, Parexel and PPD.
Steve Cutler, CEO of ICON, will lead the combined company.
In the announcement, Shannon explained the reason for the deal:
“I joined PRA 13 years ago to help build a business that would make a difference in the world and change the way we develop new drugs. The way we do it now takes far too long and costs far too much. Critically ill patients cannot wait for a cure. Unserved populations cannot wait for access. Every day counts. COVID-19 created a platform for change that we cannot ignore. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of mobile health technologies and healthcare information tools – tools that PRA helped develop – at an unprecedented pace. The association of PRA and ICON will create an organization that has the people, data, and technology to bring these healings to patients faster and more efficiently than ever before. We are delighted to join ICON, a company with a similar culture and values. I am deeply indebted to the 19,000 talented PRA employees who helped us bring this vision closer to reality. We are now together because patients cannot wait. “
PRA shareholders will receive $ 80 in cash and 0.4125 shares of ICON.
ICON trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol ICLR. ICON shares were down about 7% to $ 195 on the news.
“The combined company will create a new paradigm for accelerating clinical research and bringing new drugs and devices to market,” said ICON CEO Cutler.
“Both ICON and PRA have a track record of robust growth and performance and we are ready to build on this unparalleled strong position, leveraging the outstanding talent in both organizations. With a broader and deeper operational scale coupled with innovative technology and real-world data solutions, we will enable all customers to reduce their development time and costs. We will be the leading provider of decentralized and hybrid pilot solutions through the integration of our data capabilities, health platforms and the Accellacare location network. The transaction will contribute significantly from the first year after closing. “