Swiss drug maker Roche has offered to buy out the remaining shares in its US partner Genentech for $43.7 billion.
Roche, which already owns 55.9% of Genentech, said it would offer $89 per share to buy up the remaining stake. This is a 9% premium to the biotech company's closing share price on Friday.
Genentech is the largest maker of cancer medicines in the US. Roche expects the combination to generate annual pre-tax cost savings about $750-$850m.
The Swiss company also said its first-half net profit fell 2% to 5.73 billion Swiss francs, hit by loss of sales of influenza drug Tamiflu and the weak US dollar.
