Acquisition takes company further into market for tobacco-free alternatives to cigarettes
Philip Morris International has struck a $16bn deal to buy Swedish Match, as the tobacco company makes its biggest bet yet on alternatives to cigarettes.
Its push to reinvent itself and “unsmoke the world” has proved controversial, with a £1bn deal to buy Vectura, a UK-based developer of asthma inhalers, prompting fierce criticism.
Marlboro maker PMI will pay SKr106 ($10.57) per share for Swedish Match, a premium of 39 per cent to the closing share price on May 9, before talks between the companies became public.
The board of Swedish Match, which has net debt of about $1.3bn, has recommended that its shareholders accept the offer.
Read more: FT
