Valeant ($VRX) wasn't the only one that scored a win when Salix Pharmaceuticals ($SLXP) agreed to its $173-per-share buyout offer. Two former Salix execs--who left the company recently amid inventory issues--will make a pretty penny on the deal as well.
Ex-CFO Adam Derbyshire, who stepped down Nov. 5, will net $10.2 million in stock and $3.1 million in options he was awarded before the inventory problems surfaced, Bloomberg reports. Former skipper Carolyn Logan, who retired in January, will pocket even more, collecting $32.7 million in stock she was awarded before the company announced the Valeant tie-up.
The one-time C-suite execs will be lining their pockets despite their roles in a snafu that had investors pressing for a sale. Late last year, the North Carolina drugmaker announced it had let months' worth of unsold drugs pile up with wholesalers, which in turn overstated sales. After an internal audit, the company decided to restate financial filings for its last 7 quarters--most of which Logan and Derbyshire signed off on.
The way Sterne Agee analyst Shibani Malhotra sees it, though, "it's not just about the accounting scandal--it's about the value they've created in Salix. Things didn't end well, but it doesn't take away what they did do," Malhotra told Bloomberg--and that includes hiking the company's stock from about $8 in 2008 to more than $170 today.
And despite the low notes that ended their Salix stints, plenty of pharma suitors appreciated the product of their hard work. Salix drew plenty of takeover interest once it put itself on the block, including some from Endo ($ENDP), whose competing cash-and-stock offer prompted Valeant to sweeten its original $158-per-share proposal. The two companies agreed to the higher bid earlier this week.
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